National SC/ST Hub under the Ministry of MSME will be launched soon. This will promote the SC/ST entrepreneurs. In this regard, a National High Power Committee meeting headed by Kalraj Mishra, Union Minister for MSME was held on September 22, to review the progress of the National SC/ST Hub. Speaking on the occasion, Mishra said that the National SC/ST Hub will be launched soon within a record time of 7 months from the announcement in the budget speech of 2016-17.

On the occasion he stated that the Narendra Modi Government was keen to inculcate the spirit of self-employment among the SC / ST population and he urged upon all the participants, especially industries associations to take it in the mission mode.

He further said that his Ministry has made an initial allotment of allocation of Rs. 490 crore for the period 2016-2020 for the National SC/ST Hub. The Hub would primarily aid in strengthening market access/linkage, monitoring, capacity building, leveraging financial support schemes and sharing industry best practices etc. The hub would operate from National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) Headquarters in Delhi, supported by a special cell created for this purpose.

Minister of State, MSME, Giriraj Singh emphasised the need to work at the grassroot level and start work on a pilot basis with identified CPSEs in the districts having large presence of SC/ST entrepreneurs. Minister of State, MSME, Haribhai P. Choudhary mentioned about working for the demand side from CPSEs and large corporate houses.

For the smooth functioning of the Hub, various committees were constituted viz, High powered Monitoring Committee headed by Minister for MSME, Advisory Committee headed by Milind Kamble, President DICCI, Empowered project Approval Committee headed by Secretary, MSME. The first meeting of the Empowered Project Approval Committee was held under the Chairmanship of Secretary, MSME on August 16 in which the following proposals were approved:

1. Subsidy of Single Point Registration Scheme (SSPRS) for SC/ST enterprises for participation in Government purchases. A nominal fee of Rs. 100 per unit of SC/ST enterprises will be charged under the scheme.
2. Special Marketing Scheme (SMAS) to provide marketing support to SC/ST owned MSMEs. Under the scheme SC/ST units will get double the rate f country specified daily allowance as per MEA guidelines including expenses for accommodation, transport etc. The transport cost for participation in vendor development programmes will be reimbursed to SC/ST units.
3. Subsidy for performance and credit rating scheme for SC/ST enterprises. Renewal subsidy to be given only to the SC/ST units having the rating upto 5 and additional subsidy for SC/ST units to be 15%.

The public procurement order mandates 4% annual procurement by Central Ministries/ Departments and Public Sector Undertakings from SC/ST enterprises w.e.f April 1, 2015. It has been reported that at present the Government of India procurement form SC/ST enterprises in less than 1% due to low participation of the community. This needs to be scaled up to meet the procurement target form SC/ST.

Source: PIB