IMPHAL, May 2: The Government of Manipur through the Department of Commerce and Industries has taken initiative to provide jobs to the unemployed youth of the State and launched “Make in Manipur” an initiative for employment generation on November 26, 2015 at City Convention Centre.
According to a press release issued by Directorate of Information & Public Relation (DIPR), the main objective of the project is to provide employment to the youths without extra financial burden on through micro and small enterprises through community mobilization.
It is based on three pillars of community mobilization, transparency and Universal coverage. In order to achieve the objective, it is planned to set up clusters in rural areas to be associated with an Income generation Activity (IGA) with assured buy-back/marketing linkage.
The IGA focuses on produces from agriculture, horticulture, forest, handloom, handicraft, fisheries and animal husbandry, being the being the strength of the our state’s economy, based on cluster approach through community mobilization, training and capacity building with a definitive production plan based on critical mass/volume factor, marketing linkage with buy-back arrangement and processing facility value addition and storage facility.
Under the Make in Manipur initiative, the Department has also initiated two other activities namely Livelihood Business Incubators (LBIs) and Common Facility Centers (CFCs) at a cost of Rs 15 crore in each districts for proving manpower training and other related infrastructure based on the availability of raw materials such as floriculture, bamboos, fruits, fishes, spices, kauna and plastic in the concerned districts.
The State being gateway to South East Asia, entrepreneurship in Aromatic & Medicinal plants has a tremendous potential. M/S Manipur Food Industries Corporation, an undertaking of the Department is working out a model to where farmers grow aromatic and medicinal plants in their own land with financial assistance from banks and supplying planting materials, the release said.
To facilitate supply of planting materials, Gene Bank has been developed in Chothe village in Bishnupur district. The firm is targeting a total area of 500 acre in the first phase all over the state for plantation of plants like stevia, lemon grass, ginger, turmeric and aims to generate employment to at least 2000 persons on a sustainable basis. For processing and value addition, Livelihood Business Incubators have been established in every District Industries Centre.
Handloom industry is one of the main income generation industries in the State, involving women mostly. To promote this industry, National Handloom Development Programme was newly introduced in 2015-16 by merging all other general schemes. Under this scheme, clusters will be set up at Block level, having concentration of handlooms at a cost of Rs. 2.00 each. Government of India has approved and sanction 10 Nos. of Block Level Handloom Clusters in each in Manipur in 2015-16 at a total cost of Rs.16 crore to cover a target of 18500 weavers of Manipur.
It said that the Government of Manipur has allotted 5 acres of land at Food Park, Nilakuthi in Imphal East on lease to MSME-DI, Imphal for setting up one Technology Centre by Fragrance and Flavour Development Centre (FFDC) Kannuaj, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India.
Proposed infrastructures include Administrative Building, Quality Assessment Laboratory, Processing and Valuation of Essential Oils, Training & Hostel, Library, Aromatic Gardens etc. The World Bank has, in principle, agreed to finance the project.
In addition, 30.00 acre of land has been acquired at Ningthoukhong Awang in Bishnupur district for cultivation of aromatic & medicinal plants and providing of demonstration/training and oil distillation units.
To develop manpower for above activities, 25 fresh post graduate students have been selected through campus recruitment from different institutions and trained at the Fragrance and Flavour Development Centre, Kannuaj.
These are in addition to 36 persons trained earlier from each district as Master Trainers at FFDC. After completion of their training, they will be rendering their services in the Technology Centre which may be rename as i-Camp(Imphal Centre for Aromatic & Medicinal Plant Processing, it stated.
The Department of Commerce & Industries organized the 1st Manipur Industrial Expo from April 4 to 10 at Lamboi Khongnangkhong to promote and showcase the local products such as textiles, handloom, food, sericulture, bamboos, flowers and handicrafts of the State.
During the seventh day long expo, the Technology Centre was jointly inaugurated by Kalraj Mishra, Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise, Government of India and Chief Minister O.Ibobi Singh on April 9.
A Skill Fair (Kausal Mela) was also organized at City Convention Centre as a part of the programme. The expo was taken part by foreign traders, in addition to some from other states of India.
To promote trade with Asian countries, NE-ASEAN Business Summit Session on Agro and Food Processing: Potential & Challenges in NE & Buyer- Seller Meet was organized on April 8 at City Convention Centre.
The release added that the main attraction of the event was the beauty contest: Jewel Queen 2016 under the theme Promotion of Handloom, Handicrafts, Silk Fabric & Products of entire North East.