A total of 3.73 lakh projects have been targeted with the total credit flow having been projected at Rs. 16,000 crore with the subsidy component being Rs. 4,485 crore, according to Gulam Hussain, Director of Agro Based Food Processing Industries, Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC).
Speaking to The Hindu here, he said that the seven lakh jobs would be created every year during this Plan period through Prime Minister’s Employment Guarantee Programme (PMEGP) alone, which is the flagship project of KVIC.
A sum of Rs. 250 crore has been allotted for promotional work of PMEGP like awareness camps, seminars, exhibitions and workshops to ensure the target is achieved.
Mr. Hussain was in the city to address a KVIC workshop of four southern States on ‘Agro Based Food Processing Industry’ organised on Thursday.
PMEGP achievement
In the current year, Tamil Nadu was performing well under PMEGP and comprised the bulk of the nation-wide achievements figures. Southern Tamil Nadu had already achieved 85 per cent of its target, while the nation-wide achievement as on third quarter was 35 per cent, he said.
Further, under the National Skill Development Mission for which nearly Rs. 16,000 crore is expected to be allotted by the Union Government, KVIC is expected to get a substantial amount. It will implement training programmes to covert the nation’s huge youth man power into a skilled workforce.
Mr. Hussain, who also heads the Handmade Paper and Fibre Institute and Forest Based Industries of KVIC, said that agriculture residue, hosiery waste and old paper were being used to make handmade paper instead of using wood-based pulp.
Eco-friendly move
“This is eco-friendly way and contributes to forest conservation measures. We are making various things such as foil cover, envelopes, and carry bags. This is a very good example of creating wealth out of waste,” he said.
The quality of the products could be ascertained from the fact that the tissue paper and thin paper made by KVIC units were being supplied to National Archives of India, which is a repository of all non-current records
of the Government of India, held in trust for the use of administrators and scholars, said Mr. Hussain.
KVIC was also diversifying its bio-technology industry from making solely gobar gas earlier to manufacturing vermi-composting, bio-manure, and power generation through wind sources.
“We have developed a technology recently in partnership with Indian Institute of Technology to liquefy and bottle bio-gas,” he informed.
