KVIC crosses subsidy target under PM job plan

Why did Mahatma Gandhi advocate for the use of Charka – a tool of self-reliance – to drive away British from India? The 'Father of the Nation' had a message between the lines, i.e. the advocacy of 'behavioural economics' can always influence people's thought process, behaviour, and choices. And, that is what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done quite successfully, by turning development into good politics. He has not shied away from lending his own voice to urging people to use Khadi clothes that can help generate incomes for Khadi workers.

The results have been achieved through Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), a flagship scheme of Government of India – for which the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is the nodal agency. In the last four years, i.e. from 2014 -18, the KVIC has successfully established 1,93,818 small and medium projects across the nation – providing job opportunities to 14,75,888 persons at their doorsteps.

KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena explains the reason of this success. "Undoubtedly, it was the vision of Prime Minister Modi to digitalize the PMEGP scheme to bring transparency and efficiency along with putting a stern check on any discrepancies or middlemanship in the finalization and disbursement of funds to the beneficiaries. Ever since KVIC's IT team developed an in-house portal in 2016, we saw a quantum jump in the number of PMEGP applicants. As a result, we disbursed the margin money subsidy of Rs 4,735.94 crore during this span of four years, which is some sort of landmark in the implementation of the government scheme," he said.

The village or cottage industry, besides Khadi, was close to the heart of Mahatma Gandhi. "It was the PMEGP through which Government has been encouraging the village industry. It is remarkable that in many of its projects, the supporting margin subsidy was up to 35 percent. It was due to lack of vision and focus by successive governments; it could not accelerate from the proverbial snail's speed in terms of growth and job creation in the Khadi and Village Industries sector for many years," Saxena said.

"But as the Prime Minister himself connected the masses so adroitly that this untapped sector witnessed a rocketing growth. The low-profile Khadi and village industries products is expected do sales worth Rs 65,000 crore in the upcoming year," the KVIC Chairman said.