Govt may form national hub for Dalit MSME entrepreneurs: Minister Gehlot

Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment Thaawarchand Gehlot has said that this year being 125th Birth Anniversary of Dr. B R Ambedkar, it will also be the Year of Economic Empowerment for SC/ST entrepreneurs.  In this regard, Rs 500 crore has been allotted in the budget for Stand Up India scheme, to promote entrepreneurship among SC/ST and women. This is in line with the Prime Minister’s call for promoting entrepreneurship among SC/ST to become job providers rather than job seekers. This Scheme will facilitate at least two such projects per bank branch, one for each category of entrepreneur. 

This will benefit at least 2.5 lakh entrepreneurs. He said this while interacting with the media persons about provisions made in the budget 2016-17 for his ministry here today. He said that, in the budget, Government has proposed to constitute a National Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Hub, in the MSME sector in partnership with industry associations for building an entrepreneurship eco- system among Dalits. 

This Hub will provide professional support to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs to fulfil the obligations under the Central Government procurement policy 2012, adopt global best practices and leverage the Stand Up India initiative.

In the budget 2016-17 significant increase has also been made in the allocation of SC Sub Plan. Rs. 38,832 crore has been allocated under this head, while in the last budget this allocation was only Rs. 30,000 crore. Shri Gehlot said these measures show that welfare of the vulnerable sections of the society, including SC / ST is in the top of the agenda of the Government. Highlighting initiatives taken for the welfare of the persons with disabilities, the minister said the Government is committed to include these persons actively in the mainstream activities. Many schemes and programmes have been initiated recently.