DEHRADUN: For a state that is battling the problem of migration due to lack of employment opportunities available to its youth, it has come as a pleasant surprise for many to note that Uttarakhand has bagged the first position in providing funds to entrepreneurs to start employment-generating projects in 2016-17.State urban development minister Madan Kaushik announced the achievement shortly after returning from a meeting with Union minister Kalraj Mishra in Delhi, where Kaushik represented CM Trivendra Rawat who has charge of department of industries. Kaushik said that the success was achieved by the state under PM Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) which aims to generate jobs in both rural and urban regions, by way of self-employment ventures and micro enterprises. He added that opportunities were made available for 1,173 projects of which 24.5% were being run by women entrepreneurs.According to officials of the department of industries, Uttarakhand has achieved 108% of its actual target for disbursing loans to people to create income-generating projects. While the target was Rs 23.47 crore, a total of Rs 25.45 crore was disbursed. A total of 9,384 people were provided employment.Across the state, the top sectors preferred for self-employment projects were tailoring and preparation of readymade garments, setting up flour mills, cable TV network and computer centres, milk product making units, fabrication work and setting up wedding tent houses. Most of the beneficiaries appeared to not be keen on agriculture-related projects, officials added.Of the beneficiaries in the state, 3% were from scheduled tribes and 18.20% from scheduled castes, exceeding the given target of 2.98% and 18.6%, respectively.Additional director of department of industries, SC Nautiyal, said, “We have been more successful at achieving the target than other states, including in some very specific criteria. Under PMEGB, each district should have at least 75 projects. Barring Udham Singh Nagar, we have succeeded in reaching this figure in the other 12 districts.”According to Nautiyal, fearing reduction in subsidy disbursement, Udham Singh Nagar was conservative in sanctioning projects. “In the previous year the district did better than others in disbursing loans, so they kept a lower profile this year so that there could be even distribution across other districts,” he added.State government officials have commended the “proactive work” of public sector banks in giving out loans to entrepreneurs.PMEGP was announced in 2000 and formally launched during financial year 2008-09 and can be described as a credit-linked subsidy programme that is essentially a combination of Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP) and Pradhan Mantri Rozgar Yojana (PMRY). It also aims at bringing back the tradition of village artisanship by helping urban youth who are unable to get jobs. Applicants need to be older than 18 years to be eligible for it.Applicants also need to have studied till at least the eighth standard in case of manufacturing sector projects that are worth more than Rs 10 lakh and business or service sector projects in excess of Rs 5 lakh.

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