Arunachal Pradesh has a lot of potential in Agriculture, Horticulture and Allied sectors- Chowna Mein
Itanagar
Deputy Chief Minister, Chowna Mein said that the Arunachal Pradesh has the largest land bank in the North East and therefore has a lot of potential in Agriculture/Horticulture and Allied sectors, Tourism and textiles and Handicrafts sectors which needs to be leveraged and the benefits passed on to the farmers, Weavers, Artisans, Tour guides etc. who despite their hard work and skills are still unable to get the right value for their products and services. He was addressing the valedictory session of Arunachal Pradesh Social Enterpreneurship Meet 2020 at Dorjee Khandu Auditorium in the State Legislative Assembly today.
He said that marketing of local agricultural & horticultural produce is another big issue which need to be addressed and exuded hope that this platform will create opportunities for the people and help to find solutions for such issues. He said that the State produce lots of raw materials in the form of agriculture produce like Arecanut but there is no agri-based industries to manufacture finished products. He said that there is need to set up agri-based industries in the State so that the farmers get right value for their produce and finished products are also processed here.
He also said that the State Government has placed a lot of emphasis on attracting investment in Arunachal Pradesh, through creation of a conducive business environment for entrepreneurs and industries in the state.
He further said that there are numbers of youths in the State which have the potentials to invest but little knowledge in entrepreneurships and added that through such entrepreneurship meet we can show them the way. He thanked all the entrepreneurs who had come to share their ideas from different sectors to encourage the local entrepreneurs and exuded hope that such kind of entrepreneurship meet will go a long way in promoting local entrepreneurship in the State.
He also said that due to challenging terrains and lack of road communication and basic amenities in the border areas, people are migrating to the plains in search of modern facilities leaving the border areas man less which need to be checked by providing road communication, basic amenities, facilitating marketing of their produce and source of income through entrepreneurship saying that they are the one who safeguards the border.
He further said that this is the beginning of entrepreneurship development in the State and expressed hope that this will usher in a lot of investment in our State through sustained efforts from all the stakeholders.
Secretary Planning, Himanshu Gupta said that the main motto of organizing social entrepreneurship meet is to identify new enterprise who can help Govt promoting new entrepreneurship. He said that in one hand there are youths looking for entrepreneurship and respectable earning and on the other hand there is Govt willing to promote new entrepreneurship so that they create their own entrepreneurship instead of looking for Govt Jobs which are limited.
Deputy Chief Minister gave away prizes to the winners of Ideation Category while Principal Secretary, Ashish Verma gave away the prizes for Enterprise category on the occasion.
Winners of Ideation Category will get a Cash prize of Rs 50,000 plus seed money upto Rs 10 lakh while the first runner up will get cash prize of Rs 35,000 plus seed money upto Rs 7 lakh and the second runner up will get cash prize od Rs 20,000 plus seed money upto Rs 5 lakh. In the Enterprise Category, the winner will get a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh plus seed money of Rs 20 lakh while the first runner up will get a cash prize of Rs 75,000 plus seed money of Rs 15 lakh and the second runner up will get a cash prize of Rs 50,000 plus seed money upto Rs 10 lakh. The cash prize were given during the announcement of results during the event, however,, the seed money shall be given only after the approval of the project proposals and starting of work in Arunachal Pradesh by the entrepreneurs.
Speaker, State Legislative Assembly, Passang Dorjee Sona, MLAs Chau Zingnu Namchoom and Gabriel D Wangsu, Govt Officers, Speakers, Jury, Panelists, Enterpreneurs from different States and from the State and educated youths were also present on the occasion. The two days Social Enterpreurship Meet 2020 was organized by the Department of Finance, Planning & Investment, Govt of Arunachal Pradesh with the theme, “Social Enterpreneurship: Challenges, Relevance and Opportunities”.
