Not only U.P., ODOP making entire country stronger: Smriti Irani at UPGIS 2023
If you ask any citizen how they see ODOP as an agenda for governance, it is an agenda that helps in channelling the benefits of commerce to the last mile, the Union minister said
The ‘One District One Product (ODOP)’ is not just strengthening Uttar Pradesh but entire India, said Union women and child development minister Smriti Irani.
“For some, ODOP may be a medium of commerce but for many it is a medium of enterprise and for those who are in the world of skills, it is a medium of attracting talent,” she said while speaking at a special session on ‘Empowering Traditional Industries’ in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Global Investors’ Summit (UPGIS)-2023 in Lucknow on Saturday.
“However, if you ask any citizen how they see ODOP as an agenda for governance, it is an agenda that helps in channelling the benefits of commerce to the last mile,” she added.
“ODOP is also unique in itself because today (Saturday) is dedicated to Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya (his 55th death anniversary) who advocated the idea of benefiting even the last person of the society and ODOP fulfils this objective. Starting from 2018, this journey of a few years has trained more than 80,000 people which is a big achievement. The U.P. government’s effort is commendable and is also providing market to the products of all districts, including Varanasi, Agra and Lucknow among others,” Irani added.
She further said, “It is only Uttar Pradesh which can organise more than one international event simultaneously in the state. Today in Lucknow a number of investors across world and India are discussing the investment opportunities. At the same time in Agra, global leaders associated with G20 are learning from the achievements of India.” The Union minister also released the ‘ODOP Catalogue’—a collection of success stories related to ODOP—on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, U.P. cabinet minister for MSME Rakesh Sachan said, “Due to the development of road, water and air routes in U.P., the MSME sector has also prospered. The state started ODOP in 2018 and today it has been recognised across the world. To increase ODOP, many employment-oriented schemes are also being run. Along with implementing the ODOP scheme, various programmes are also going on to develop the products of all 75 districts.”
Shobhit Mathur, Partner, Africa India & Middle East (AIM) Consulting Services was the moderator of session. Mushtaq Ahmed, MD, Mustafa Centre in Singapore, T Koshy, MD & CEO, Open Network for Digital Commerce and Dheeraj Kapoor, vice president, Flipkart, also took part in the session.