The Hindu : Karnataka News : Self-employment training institutes for five more districts

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 21, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Self-employment training institutes for five more districts

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, OCT. 20. The State Government has decided to set up rural development and self-employment training (RUDSET) institutes in five districts to promote entrepreneurship among the youth.

Addressing presspersons after a meeting with the officials of various banks here on Wednesday, the Minister for Industries, Infrastructure and Civil Aviation, P.G.R. Sindhia, said institutes would be set up in Davangere, Raichur, Koppal, Hassan and Kodagu districts and they would start functioning from June next year. Institutes were already functioning in 21 districts. A training institute would be sanctioned for the Bangalore Urban district next year, he added.

A sum of Rs. 50 lakhs would be spent on providing infrastructure to the new institutes. The Government and nationalised banks would release Rs. 25 lakhs each. Canara Bank, State Bank of Hyderabad and Corporation Bank had been roped in to provide funds to set up the institutes. A proposal had also been placed before the meeting to issue credit cards to people who had received training at RUDSET, Mr. Sindhia said.

A decision had been taken to set up a wood seasoning plant at Channapatna at a cost of Rs. 20 lakhs to promote the toy industry. A sum of Rs. 7 crores would be released to Khadi and Village Industries Board to revive village industries, he said.

Loans to small units

Noting that lending to small-scale industries (SSIs) to banks was negligible, he said the State Government would urge the Centre to direct all banks to allocate at least 15 per cent of the priority lending to SSIs. Although priority lending had been fixed at 40 per cent, the banks were yet to achieve the figure in the case of the small-scale sector. Lending to the tiny sector was less than four per cent. Banks had granted Rs. 3,776 crores to SSIs in the State in the last financial year.

Under the Prime Minister's Rozgar Yojana (PMRY), the Centre had decided to give financial assistance to 20,000 beneficiaries last year. But it had released Rs. 75 crores, and only 16,000 people had benefited under the programme. About 24,000 people would benefit under the scheme in the current financial year, Mr. Sindhia said.

There was no correct data on the number of sick units in the State. The deputy commissioners had been directed to submit reports on the condition of various categories of industries in their districts, Mr. Sindhia added.

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) had set a target of enrolling 50,000 artisans under the artisan credit scheme last year. But only 10,000 artisans had benefited. The officials had been instructed to enrol 40,000 artisans under the scheme, the Minister said.

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