Policy for entrepreneurship sought

National body, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII) has demanded entrepreneurship policy for states and has urged the governments to include entrepreneurship in the curriculum at elementary education level.

Speaking to Business standard, newly-appointed secretary general of EDII, Jitendra Tiwari, who is also executive director of Centre for Entrepreneurship Development of Madhya Pradesh (CEDMAP) said, “We have discussed the issue at a national level conclave of entrepreneurship development bodies of India in Srinagar recently. It was observed that all states should have an entrepreneurship policy like industrial promotion policy. Also the entrepreneurship should be a part of curriculum in all educational institutes at elementary level.”

Indian states have entrepreneurship development bodies that functions under umbrella of various departments and financial institutions however, skill development is yet a key issue.

“Few years back CEDMAP was limited to few government sponsored schemes like Prime Minster Self Employment scheme. In view of the growing demand of skilled entrepreneurs in various industries, primarily in IT industries, we needed to diversify our activities. Now we are going to become a Rs 30-crore organisation, yet we are a non-profit institute. There are constraints in absence of a policy, if state government floats a policy, skill development programmes will have an innovative approach and entrepreneurs will become employable," Tiwari added.

The CEDMAP, an autonomous body, has launched various programmes for entrepreneurship development in Madhya Pradesh for innovative practices and skill certification.

The CEDMAP not only has diversified activities in entrepreneurship development and skill development programmes but it also has actively participated in nation-wide financial inclusion programmes.

The present Madhya Pradesh government had floated a plan to launch a skill development policy last year, no progress has been made so far.

The educated youth from villages and sub-urban areas are dependent upon various industrial training institutes (ITIs) which are facing bleak future in absence of proper infrastructure.

"How can we expect ITIs to produce skilled entrepreneurs when they teach on 1918 made trucks. Of the total 203 ITIs, Madhya Pradesh has 151 government owned ITIs and of them 58 have no building of their own, curriculum is age-old, machine and tools are primitive. State has already received a soft loan of Rs 2.5 crore from Central government to upgrade the ITIs on PPP model but the chairmen (picked up from various industries) could not utilize the fund as they do not have any idea what do with the fund," complains an industrialist who is also member of an ITI.