MISSION DEVELOPMENT
Jammu: For years Rajesh Kumar, a poor farmer from Mehlowal village in R S Pura Jammu, has been trying hard to earn his livelihood from farming on his four kanals of land, but he never earned enough to enjoy a decent life.
After his matriculation, Rajesh didn’t pursue further studies and dreamt of living a happy life by working on his farm. “I worked hard as a farmer for five years but I was facing a lot of problems as the earnings were less and I could not meet the needs of my family or even enjoy a contended life,” he said. However his destiny changed after he heard about Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP).
Rajesh started enquiring about the scheme and approached the concerned department for getting a loan facility for starting his own business. Much to his delight his project was approved and he got Rs 5 lakh for starting his dairy farm.
“Initially I bought one buffalo and a cow to start my business. It was a big success for me and I made a steady progress in it. I am happy with the earnings and now I can meet all needs of my family and much more. Thanks to my income, I am also able to regularly pay my monthly installments of the loan without any difficulty. The business gave me new confidence and now I have decided to extend my business by buying more buffalos,” he said.
It is pertinent to mention that PMEGP is a credit linked subsidy programme administered by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India. Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), is the nodal agency of the scheme. At state and Union Territory level the scheme is implemented through KVIC, Khadi Village Industries Board (KVIB) and District Industries Centres.
The unemployed youth are now getting loan facilities with subsidy for establishment of their own business. There are lakhs of unemployed youth in Jammu and Kashmir who have availed the facility of subsidy loan under PMEGP and have scripted their own success stories.
