Mr. Brijesh Dave, Project Coordinator felicitating Shri Pravin Solanki, Commissioner of Cottage & Rural Industries, Govt. of Gujarat

Cottage and rural enterprises are important for economic growth. The sector is significant in terms of the employment it creates, the use of natural resources it facilitates, and the non-farm activities it generates. EDII is implementing the ‘Hastkala Setu Yojana’ under the aegis of the Gujarat Government’s Commissionerate of Cottage Industries.

The mandate of this initiative is to upgrade the rural entrepreneurship ecosystem by revitalizing cottage and rural industries on the cornerstones of skills, competencies and capabilities. The strategy advocates an outcome-based approach with focus on skill and entrepreneurship development and incubation led micro-entrepreneurship promotion. The project aims at integrating and enhancing the capacities and expertise of rural artisans / entrepreneurs through a well-developed mechanism. Since 2020, when the project commenced, it has today expanded to cover 33. While Ahmedabad, Banaskantha, Jamnagar, Kutch, Rajkot, and Surendranagar districts were covered in the first phase, the second phase, which began in May 2021, included the districts of Patan, Mehsana, Junagadh, Baroda, Dahod, Narmada, and Valsad.

In the last three months, the Project has ensured sensitization of 46 artisans through 1362 Entrepreneurship Awareness Camps. 56 Entrepreneurship Development Programmes conducted under the programme, have empowered 1388 beneficiaries by honing their skillsets based on their area of expertise and building new skill in response to the market demands and consumer preference.

Aside from training the artisans in the domains of modernizing the craft, ensuring a deep market penetration, adopting latest market trends, establishing credit linkages and adopting newer technologies, the Institute also provides opportunity to artisans to exhibit their products across India through various exhibitions. Such exhibitions are organized not only to display the best art forms but also to facilitate a fruitful networking and buyer – seller interactions. In the last three months, the revenue generated by the artisans with the support of EDII’s interventions through exhibitions – B2B as well as retail sales – is to the tune of Rs. 2,07,62,515.

A workshop was organized on 8th & 9th February under the guidance of Shri Pravin Solanki, Commissioner of Cottage & Rural Industries, Govt. of Gujarat. Placing emphasis on the implementation strategy, Shri Pravin Solanki said, “During the time of Covid19, the industry has witnessed several changes in market trends and customer preferences. Artisans need to upgrade themselves with new skills and innovative thinking so that they develop fresh perspective to growth and sustenance of business.

Dr. Satya Ranjan Acharya, Professor, EDII & Project Director, endorsed the views of Shri Pravin Solanki & encouraged the participants to continue building skills and pioneering new products. He added that such a skill base will bolster the rural economy with progressive enterprises.