By 121 News
Chandigarh 13th November:- Embarking on an ambitious mission to empower Indian youth with skill training and employability, the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE)today hosted the National Entrepreneurship Awards 2017, marking the completion of three glorious years of its inception today. The awards were conferred in the august presence of Arun Jaitley, Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs, Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, His Excellency Kenji Hiramatsu, Ambassador of Japan to India, Dr K.P Krishnan, Secretary, MSDE; Jyotsna Sitling, Joint Secretary, MSDE, Sunita Chhibba, Senior Adviser and Ms Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director & CEO, ICICI Bank Ltd.
The National Entrepreneurship Awards (NEA) was instituted by MSDE in 2016 to encourage a culture of entrepreneurship across the country. This year the second edition of awards were conducted which saw participation from 2880 applicants out of which 45 were shortlisted; and finally 15 winners across defined categories, were announced and awarded.
Congratulating all the entrepreneurs recognized by MSDE in the 2nd version of the awards this year highlighting the challenges of limited job creation capacity, Arun Jaitley, Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, said that India has a much younger population versus other advance economies. These are a huge opportunity for us to scale up and skill our workforce and reap our demographic dividend and service economies. Conventionally our focus was on awarding degrees with always a debate on how we link them to jobs. Over a period of time we have realized that we need to skill our youth for these jobs.
He further added that conventionally people were skilled according to their communities but as economies develop and there is advent of technology, we need to realize the importance of reskilling and upskilling, to bridge the demand supply gap. As the economy expands, a specialized skilled workforce is the need to the hour.
He said further that the Strength of India's economy will be entrepreneurship. We have to ensure that we do not restrict the youth. We let them unleash their energy, allow them to move away from the beaten track and build new ideas for the new India.
Speaking on the occasion Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship said that India has become an emerging market for global investors and entrepreneurship can majorly contribute to the country's economy. Skill development and entrepreneurship form the basis for the growth of any country. Our endeavour is to empower our youth and equip them with the right skill sets and create a conducive environment to help them build sustainable business solutions/model. In the years to come, entrepreneurship will be the key to attain a double-digit GDP.
He added that stable business environment, market-oriented reforms like raising of FDI caps, implementation of GST, and key initiatives like Make in India, Mudra Yojana, Stand up India and Start Up India are encouraging aspiring and ambitious Indians. The youth should leverage them.
The core committee of implementing partners of NEAS2017 comprised of the seven premier institutes which oversaw the scheme implementation. These institutes included- Indian Institute of Technology Delhi; Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur; Indian Institute of Technology Bombay; Indian Institute of Technology Madras; Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad; XLRI Jamshedpur; Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Mumbai. The first National Entrepreneurship Awards Ceremony was held last year where Rajnath Singh, Minister for Home Affairs.
Winners were given a cash award of Rs 5 lakh (enterprises and individuals) and Rs. 10 lakh (organizations/institutes) along with a certificate and trophy recognising their efforts of being the change agents in India's development. The national jury for NEA 2017 includes eminent persons drawn from academia/research, industry, social sector, banking etc.
The foundation day ceremony was well attended by senior delegates from the ministry, members of the Skill Sector Councils, leaders from Corporate India; successful and budding entrepreneurs among others.
Sharing his message, Anantkumar Hegde, Minister of State, MSDE shared that for thousands of years, the nation's economy was run on what our people made or produced with their hands – be it clothing from weavers or items from potters and blacksmiths or produce from farmers. All these were based on the inherent entrepreneurship capabilities of the people of our great land. It is this entrepreneurial spirit the Government aims to tap into and bring the best out of our people. To achieve this goal, numerous programs have been launched encouraging entrepreneurship, including funding programs and other initiatives that can handhold entrepreneurs during the early years.
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