Tura: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Friday informed that his government has earmarked Rs. 300 crore to accelerate and sustain economic development of the state through entrepreneurship development in Meghalaya.
“India has a huge young population and to further boost entrepreneurship in the State, the Government has launched the “CM Elevate” Programme. Through this programme, Government would provide grant up to 75 percent as per the criteria of the scheme,” Sangma said.
Launching the “CM Elevate” programme at Tura in West Garo Hills district, the Chief Minister said the government would support about 20,000 beneficiaries.
He encouraged people to take advantage of the programme and start business ventures that would create job opportunities and encourage entrepreneurship culture in the State.
The Chief Minister said that youth in the State has been given support from the Government through “Yess Meghalaya” to initiate various activities that educate and empower our youth.
He said that Yess Meghalaya has supported over 1000 groups in the last one year and more groups from the State will be provided financial assistance.
“We would support youth organisations to initiate awareness and educational programmes that aim to empower our society. Through this programme, we want our youth to be engaged in productive programmes”, the Chief Minister added.
Sangma further informed that Meghalaya Grassroot Music Programme (MGMP) has supported over 1500 artists in the past one year and we have been able to engage and leverage the talent of our artists.
He said the government will promote and support drama, folklore etc that aims to showcase the diverse culture and tradition of Meghalaya from this year.
Talking further on promoting entrepreneurship, he spoke about “ PRIME” programme through which financial support was extended to the youth.
Touching upon the “Green Meghalaya” initiative, the Chief Minister said, “We would like to encourage our communities to continue to protect and conserve our forest and natural resources. We want to encourage our Nokmas to protect our forest cover, for which in return we will support the community with financial assistance”.
In the past one year, Sangma informed that over Rs. 30 crore has been released to the community for protection of forest cover.
The Government has envisaged to cover about 50,000 hectares under the programmes. We would like to further increase the coverage of forest protection through this initiative”, he added.
