J&K gets top priority in PMEGP

New Delhi: The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has just created record industrial growth and employment opportunities in Jammu and Kashmir by creating the highest number of jobs in comparison to all other states and union territories (UTs) in India under the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP).

According to the KVIC during the year 2021-22, it created a record 21,640 manufacturing and service units in Jammu and Kashmir, way ahead of bigger states like Uttar Pradesh (12,594 units), Madhya Pradesh (8,082 units), Tamil Nadu (5,972 units), Karnataka (5,877) and Gujarat (4,140 units). A new employment of 1.73 lakh in the union territory in 2021-22, under PMEGP alone, is also the highest across all states and UTs in India, the Khadi Commission said.

In 2021-22, KVIC had set a target of 3,360 PMEGP units in Jammu and Kashmir but buoyed by the Centre's major push to local manufacturing, it ended up establishing a whopping 21,640 units and thus exceeding the target by a massive 544 per cent with a total capital of Rs 2,101 crore while it disbursed a record margin money subsidy of Rs 467 crore along with Bank Credit flow of Rs 1,634 crore. The margin money subsidy disbursed by KVIC in Jammu and Kashmir is also the highest among all states/UTs in the country, it said.

Attributing this success of employment spree to the Prime Minister's vision for all-round development and self-sustainability of Jammu and Kashmir, the KVIC chairman, Vinai Kumar Saxena, said: "Such large-scale self-employment in Jammu and Kashmir is a contribution of KVIC towards making the state self-sustainable and bringing it at par with other states in terms of development.

"The record number of PMEGP units in Jammu and Kashmir is also a testimony of how people of the UT, after abrogation of Article 370, are participating in government schemes to strengthen the local economy and pave the way for overall development of the state."

The development of the union territory has been the focus area of the Modi government with a special thrust given on creation of local employment in the state since 2014-15.