Uttarakhand’s Vocal for Local push shows promise as growth centres make profit

Growth centres started in Uttarakhand, with a focus on Centre’s Vocal for Local agenda, have started making profits and give earnings to locals from the hilly regions. The State government started developing growth centres at a fast pace after lakhs of migrants returned to the state during the nationwide lockdown.

“Starting growth centres to give employment to locals is a dream project of chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and it is yielding positive results also. We have over 100 growth centres that have been sanctioned in the state, which are helping locals increase their daily productivity with mechanised support,” said SA Murugesan, commissioner industries.

The commissioner further said that 106 growth centres have been approved of which over 70 have started production and making profits. Further, the department has 12 new proposals pending for approval.

The 75 growth centres, that have started production in the past few months, have generated a turnover of over ₹6 crores, said Anupam Dwivedi, deputy director of Uttarakhand Industries department.

“We take monthly updates from the growth centres on overall and net profits. Official records show that there has been an overall turnover of ₹6 crores by all growth centres combined, with a profit of around 10% of the total turnover. The profit making is slow, but it is picking up with the use of technology and proper marketing,” said Dwivedi.

He added that the industries department works on a convergence model with its main role being facilitating in the function of the growth centre. Cooperatives or self-help groups that approach the department use the existing infrastructure, and the machinery to boost production is given by the state government.

In October, while reviewing the working of the growth centres, chief minister Rawat had announced that Uttarakhand’s local products will soon have an umbrella brand for better branding to connect with the state and the Himalayas.

“The products being produced by the growth centres involving locals would soon have an umbrella brand under which other brands would continue to operate. The brand would be developed with the help of experts. It would be such that one will get a feeling of Uttarakhand and its Himalayas. This would help the products to be sold in a much better way,” Rawat had said.

Under the initiative, it was suggested that the government open centres in blocks were people are mainly involved in one occupation like poultry, agriculture or dairy. For an area where people are involved mainly in poultry, the government opened a poultry based growth centre, similarly a dairy based growth centre was opened in areas where dairy was the primary occupation of the locals and so on.