ITANAGAR, Jan 31: Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein today while attending the valedictory session of the Arunachal Pradesh Social Entrepreneurship Meet 2020 here at the Dorjee Khandu Auditorium in State Legislative Assembly said that the state has lots of potential to excel in a host of economic sectors since it possess the largest land bank in entire Northeast.
Mein opined that agriculture/horticulture and allied sectors, tourism, textiles and handicrafts are the areas which need to be leveraged for passing benefits to the farmers, weavers, artisans, tour guides etc., who despite hard work and skills don’t get the right value for their products and services. He said that marketing of local agricultural & horticultural produce is another big issue which need to be addressed and expressed hope that the platform will create opportunities for people and help to find solutions for such issues.
He lamented that despite producing lots of raw materials in the form of agriculture produce like areca nut, there are no agro-based industries and there is an urgent need for their set up to ensure farmers get right value of their produce. Elaborating on state government’s emphasis on attracting investment in the state, DCM added that there are numbers of youths in the state who have the potential to excel but are lacking in required entrepreneurship knowledge. He thanked the entrepreneurs who had come to share their ideas from different sectors to encourage local entrepreneurs and exuded hope that such kind of entrepreneurship meet will go a long way in promoting entrepreneurship in state.
Speaking about the state’s economic challenges, Mein said due to tough terrain and lack of road communication and basic amenities in border areas, people are migrating to plains in search of modern facilities which need to be checked by providing road communication, basic amenities, facilitating marketing of agricultural   produce and   supplementing sources of income through entrepreneurship. Secretary Planning Himanshu Gupta said the motto of organizing the meet is to promote new entrepreneurship with emphasis on youth entrepreneurship.
Deputy Chief Minister gave away prizes to the winners of ‘Ideation’ category while Principal Secretary Ashish Verma gave away prizes for ‘Enterprise’ category on the occasion. Ideation winners got a cash prize of Rs 50,000 plus seed money of up to Rs 10 lakh while the first runner up got a cash prize of Rs  35,000 plus seed money of up to Rs 7 lakh and the second runner up got a cash prize of Rs 20,000 plus seed money of up to Rs 5 lakh. In Enterprise category, the winner got a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh plus seed money of Rs 20 lakh while first runner up got a cash prize of Rs 75,000 plus seed money of Rs 15 lakh and the second runner up got a cash prize of Rs 50,000 plus seed money of up to Rs 10 lakh. Cash prizes were given during announcement of results and  the seed money amounts shall be given only after approval of project proposals and actual commencement of work in Arunachal Pradesh by the entrepreneurs. 
Speaker, State Legislative Assembly Passang Dorjee Sona, MLAs Chau Zingnu Namchoom and Gabriel D Wangsu, officers, speakers, jury, panellists and entrepreneurs from different states and from Arunachal along with educated youths were present on the occasion. 
The two-day meet with the theme ‘Social Entrepreneurship: Challenges, Relevance and Opportunities’ was organized by the Department of Finance, Planning & Investment, GoAP.  DCM Media Cell

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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