The Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) commemorated its three year completion by hosting National Entrepreneurship Awards 2017. Many entrepreneurs were awarded and their contribution to the evolving skilling and entrepreneurship ecosystem was recognized on this occasion, graced by the presence of Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs Shri Arun Jaitley, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Ambassador of Japan to India Shri Kenji Hiramatsu, Secretary MSDE Dr K.P Krishnan and Managing Director & CEO, ICICI Bank Ltd Ms Chanda Kochhar.
Shri Arun Jaitley congratulated the award winners and appreciated their efforts in job creation in challenging times, he said, “India has a much younger population versus other advance economies. This is a huge opportunity for us to scale up and skill our workforce and reap our demographic dividend and service economies. Conventionally our focus was on awarding degrees with always a debate on how we link them to jobs. Over a period of time we have realised that we need to skill our youth for these jobs.”
He further added “Conventionally people were skilled according to their communities but as economies develop and there is advent of technology, we need to realize the importance of reskilling and upskilling, to bridge the demand supply gap. As the economy expands, a specialized skilled workforce is the need to the hour. “
“The Strength of India’s economy will be entrepreneurship. We have to ensure that we do not restrict the youth. We let them unleash their energy, allow them to move away from the beaten track and build new ideas for the new India,” Shri Arun Jaitley.
Speaking on the occasion Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, said, “India has become an emerging market for global investors and entrepreneurship can majorly contribute to the country’s economy. Skill development and entrepreneurship form the basis for the growth of any country. Our endeavour is to empower our youth and equip them with the right skill sets and create a conducive environment to help them build sustainable business solutions/model. In the years to come, entrepreneurship will be the key to attain a double-digit GDP.”
“A stable business environment, market-oriented reforms like raising of FDI caps, implementation of GST, and key initiatives like Make in India, Mudra Yojana, Stand up India and Start Up India are encouraging aspiring and ambitious Indians. The youth should leverage them,” Shri Dharmendra Pradhan.
Sharing his message MoS MSDE Shri Anantkumar Hegde said, “For thousands of years, the nation’s economy was run on what our people made or produced with their hands – be it clothing from weavers or items from potters and blacksmiths or produce from farmers. All these were based on the inherent entrepreneurship capabilities of the people of our great land. It is this entrepreneurial spirit the Government aims to tap into and bring the best out of our people. To achieve this goal, numerous programs have been launched encouraging entrepreneurship, including funding programs and other initiatives that can handhold entrepreneurs during the early years.”
The National Entrepreneurship Awards (NEA) was instituted by MSDE in 2016 to encourage a culture of entrepreneurship across the country. This year the second edition of awards were conducted which saw participation from 2880 applicants out of which 45 were shortlisted; and finally 15 winners across defined categories, were announced and awarded. Winners were given a cash award of Rs 5 lakh (enterprises and individuals) and Rs. 10 lakhs (organizations/institutes) along with a certificate and trophy recognizing their efforts of being the change agents in India’s development.
The foundation day ceremony was well attended by senior delegates from the ministry, members of the Skill Sector Councils, leaders from Corporate India; successful and budding entrepreneurs among others.
On this occasion, National Quality Assurance Framework (NQAF) Manuals were released by National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) which will provides the benchmarks or quality criteria which the different organizations involved in education and training must meet in order to be accredited to provide education and training/skills activities.
Further, to encourage development of entrepreneurial skills among school students, course module on entrepreneurship was released for class IX and X. Capturing success stories of entrepreneurs who have walked the extra mile to initiate positive changes, a compilation handbook ‘Swalamban ki Ore’ was also jointly released by National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD) and Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE).
List of National Entrepreneurship Award Winners
Award track
Recognition Track
Champions of change
(This article is based on a press release from MSDE, Government of India)
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