E-Paper
Govt-NGOs tieup can boost self-employment
There are many credible NGOs manned professionally and working efficiently, writes Tarun Das.
This is going to be the first budget of the UPA Government and one which needs to recognise the fact that over 50 per cent of India’s population is under 25 years of age. Over 500 million. A resource. An asset. A force. A driver of India’s future, its development, its growth and its employment.
Those under 25 and, indeed, those under 35, seek a speed of change which requires gross domestic product to move ahead at 8 per cent per annum or more — not less. They are impatient, they have new ideas, new thoughts, new dreams.
What are they all about? The first difference is that these young people like to do things on their own. They like their independence. Therefore, their focus is on building their own business, being self-employed, mostly in the services sector and somewhat less — but not totally excluded — in manufacturing.
This, actually, is a boon for India because, with the best will in the world, direct traditional employment generation of hundreds of millions is just impossible to generate in the short and medium term.
So, the budget and other policies of the Government — central and states — needs to support, promote and help drive the entrepreneurial instincts of the young.
In the early 90s, a young woman entrepreneur got a loan of Rs 40,000 from an NGO (nonGovernmental organisation) in New Delhi to start a small business. Today, she is a millionaire employing many people and has, long ago, repaid the loan and the interest.
She could not get a loan from a bank when she started but the NGO took the risk. This same NGO has since financed nearly 1,000 young entrepreneurs and the success rate and the repayment rate has been outstanding over the last ten years.
This example gives an important pointer. There are many credible NGOs manned professionally, operating efficiently, dedicated to entrepreneurship building at a practical level, especially amongst the disadvantaged who have a skill or knowhow but no funds.
Instead of the Finance Ministry relying entirely on banks to give more funds and credit, partnership with credible NGOs, which are meeting set criteria, will enable huge self-employment generation.
Banks will not be able to meet targets because they have to go by security requirements and the potential entrepreneur cannot satisfy the norms of banks who have to, in turn, account to the Reserve Bank of India.
Banks, however, could be asked to create a separate channel for partnership with, and support to, NGOs which bring entrepreneurs to the table, help them to start and provide mentoring services.
Create a dedicated Youth Development Bank which only deals with young entrepreneurs — budding or existing, led by respected persons, manned by young development oriented executives, a modest Rs 100 crore capital would go a long way to support youth initiatives especially in the field of businesses of different kinds, ranging from vocational trades to knowledge-based services or parts and components manufacturing.
The Youth Development Bank could easily leverage thousands of crores of rupees from larger banks and run a tight, red tape-free operation for young people, including partnership with NGOs and mentoring their clients.
A third initiative could be directed at young people who set up NGOs for local development work. These are not profit making but these are serving a very useful purpose in directing young people to do developmental projects and bring about improvement in the community, rural or urban.
To promote, in particular, a rural focus, young people doing work of this kind, need empowerment and support.
A fourth action point could relate to sports. Across the country young children need to be encouraged to take to soccer which really is a poor person’s game and if youth football was given a boost through modest funding support to institutions dedicated to coaching children and organising football leagues and tournaments.
(The author is chief mentor of CII)
