The State Government has sanctioned Rs. 5 crore to Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) for conducting training programmes to nurture self-employment, K. Pannerselvam, Additional Director, EDI, Government of Tamil Nadu, Chennai, said.
Entrepreneurship development was a must for students passing out from over 500 engineering colleges since only up to 15 per cent of them are employed, he said, delivering a special address at the recent inaugural of a “training of trainers” programme sponsored by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Entrepreneurship, Government of India.
The 12-day entrepreneurship development programme is being organised by the R. K. Charitable Trust with support from the National Institution for Micro, Small and Medium Entrepreneurship (NIMSME) benefitted 30 youths.
Schemes such as Unemployed Youth Employment Generation Programme, Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme, and New Entrepreneur-cum-Enterprise Development Scheme foster entrepreneurship among confident youth, Ravindran, Assistant Director, District Industries Centre, said. In his inaugural address, M. Srinivasan, president, BHEL Small Industries’ Association, dealt on the procedures prospective entrepreneurs need to go through to run industries. Developing entrepreneurs was a must for a growing country, he said. Rajkumar Assistant Professor, IIT Kanpur, emphasised on innovations as key to success in entrepreneurship. Many government agencies were prepared to support innovations, he said. L. Kalpana, Principal, SR Polytechnic, said that in a scenario where securing employment was difficult, students must focus on becoming job providers.
C. Ramaswamy Desai, Project Manager, Institute for Entrepreneurship and Career Development, Bharathidasan University, said the institute was coordinating with nearly 100 entrepreneurship development cells in affiliated colleges to promote self-employment. The IECD intends to offer programmes in food processing and garment making, Mr. Desai said. N.Kanagasababathy Managing Trustee of R.K. Charitable Trust, and S.P.Mohan, Chief Coordinator, spoke. .
