In what appears to be a major accomplishment for the Uttar Pradesh government in terms of employment generation in its second term, the state has achieved 108% target set under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP). The Yogi government has also achieved 95% target in terms of setting up small-scale units under the programme, an official said.
Principal Secretary, Micro and MSME, Khadi, Village Industries Export Promotion, Navneet Sehgal said the government exceeded the target of providing employment to 15,000 youths by 8% in the first quarter itself and provided jobs to 16,257 jobless people.
Similarly, under the PMEGP, 1,850 units were to be set up in the state by the second quarter and the government established 1,636 units, PMEGP incharge Hari Ram Singh said.
Singh said that small and micro industries are being set up rapidly in rural areas under PMEGP. He added that a total of 2,194 applications were approved and 1,636 units have already been established while the work on the rest is in progress.
Also, of about Rs 7 crore received for setting up industries, a sum of about Rs 6 crore has already been spent so far. In the last five years, 15,090 units were set up in rural areas of the state at the cost of Rs 1,982 crore. At the same time, additional employment has been given to 1,60,166 people.
The PMEGP was launched by the Central government to provide jobs to the unemployed youth. Through this scheme, loans (from Rs 10-25 lakh) are being made available to the unemployed youth to start industrial ventures. A subsidy of up to 35% is also given to the beneficiaries under the scheme.