(a): Whether any initiative has been made for development and
empowerment of women in the field of rural industries;
(b) : If so, the details thereof;
(c) : Whether the Government has conducted training programmes on
the various issues like project management, WTO, gender issue etc.
to enhance their efficiency and strengthen them; and
(d): If so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF SMALL SCALE INDUSTRIES & AGRO AND RURAL INDUSTRIES (SHRI MAHABIR PRASAD)
(a)&(b): The Government has been implementing the Rural Employment
Generation Programme (REGP), a credit-linked subsidy programme,through
the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC),throughout the country,
to provide employment opportunities by assisting individual entrepreneurs/
self help groups, including women, in rural areas and small towns with
population upto 20,000. Under the REGP, women entrepreneurs are entitled
to a higher rate of margin money assistance as compared with those in the
general category.
The details of village industry units set up by women entrepreneurs under the
REGP during 2005-06 are as under :
Similarly, under the Prime Minister`s Rozgar Yojana (PMRY), implemented in both
rural and urban areas, self-employment opportunities are made available to
educated unemployed youth. This too is a credit-linked subsidy scheme and is
being implemented through the District Industries Centres of States and Union
Territories, with the loans being provided by banks.
The details of cases of women entrepreneurs sanctioned loans under the
PMRY during 2003-04 are as under :
(c)&(d): The Government (in the Ministry of Small Scale Industries - MoSSI )
implements the `Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development
` (TREAD) Scheme for women entrepreneurs through the Small Industries
Development Organisation. The scheme envisages development of micro
(tiny) women enterprises in the country, both in urban and rural areas.
The main objective of the scheme is to empower women by encouraging/
assisting them to form self-help groups, developing their entrepreneurial
skills and assisting them in setting up enterprises/trades by mitigating
constraints faced by them in this regard. Further, with a view to creating
awareness among the SSI entrepreneurs, including women entrepreneurs,
on various aspects of the WTO agreements and their implications for the
SSI sector, the MoSSI has so far organized 60 sensitisation programmes/
workshops all over the country.