Non-farm Sector Enterprises and Employment
157
of credit from formal financial institutions,
support for technology upgradation and
modernisation, provision of infrastructural
facilities, testing facilities and quality certifi-
cation. Developing entrepreneurship and the
technical skills through training, support for
product development, design interventions
and packaging, risk mitigation of artisans
and works through different social sector
interventions and safety nets, support for
accessing domestic and global markets,
organisation of people and their collectives
in order to facilitate easy delivery of all kinds
of services. The ministry of MSME works
through the Khadi and Village Industries
Commission, the Coir Board and other such
institutions to deliver its services. For the coir
sector through Coir Board an export market
promotion scheme has been implemented.
This popularises coir and coir products in
markets abroad and supports the industry
to modernise itself in order to orient its
products for exports. The ministry has also
initiated a scheme for promoting innovation
and rural entrepreneurship.
The non-agricultural livelihoods at the
lower end of the spectrum have significant
challenges. Each sub-sector of activity needs
to be studied in detail and the value chains
fully mapped. Those which have a viable
market should be taken up for improve-
ment. The improvements should seek to
provide technology, ideas, raw material
and marketing support if over the medium
term. The enterprises and the craftsman are
able to pay for the services and cover their
costs in full so that the livelihoods become
more certain and sustainable. Revival plans
that merely aim at sustaining employment
but without a viable market may not be the
most appropriate way of protecting liveli-
hoods. It would be a far superior option
to shift people engaged in such marginal
livelihoods dependent on charitable support
from others to more viable new economy
livelihoods. Administratively the bulk of
non-farm livelihoods are divided between
two ministries, Textiles and MSME. MSME
supported efforts seem to be doing well
compared to the other efforts. Since most of
the base level work is in creating enterprises
and provide opportunities to other artisans
and craftsmen employment opportunities,
harmonisation of the schemes is a clear need.
The National Policy on Skill and Enterprise
Development should ensure that harmoni-
sation across schemes and ministries takes
place and the potential entrepreneurs do
not need to arbitrage between schemes and
ministries.
