Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has said that the mountainous areas of the State offer immense potential for self-employment. He was addressing a meeting of the Rural Development and Migration Prevention Commission at his residence on Friday.
Dhami directed the officers to make concrete efforts to provide youth with livelihood opportunities in their villages by linking local resources, traditional knowledge and skills with employment. He said that widespread promotion of local products, focusing on their quality and branding and providing better markets should be made.
The CM said that reverse migration will be possible not only by providing employment, but also by developing better livelihoods, facilities and opportunities in the villages. “To achieve this, all departments must work in coordination and with each other for results,’’ he said.
In the meeting, the officers presented the CM information about the migrant Panchayats, migration prevention and self-employment awareness programmes being organized in various districts by the Commission. The members of the Commission also offered several important suggestions regarding increasing employment and self-employment opportunities in mountainous areas and accelerating reverse migration.
The CM directed officials to seriously consider all suggestions received at the meeting and develop an effective action plan. He said that all departments should work in coordination through their respective departmental activities and schemes to encourage reverse migration to mountainous areas.
He said that information about self-employment and livelihood schemes should be made available to people in rural areas in a simple and effective manner. “To ensure that people don’t have to make unnecessary rounds of the offices or banks to avail of the benefits of the schemes, special attention should be paid to simplifying procedures and disseminating information about the schemes to the village level,’’ he said.
The vice chairman of Commission SS Negi, members Anil Singh Shahi, Dinesh Rawat, Suresh Suyal, Ram Prakash Painuli and Ranjana Rawat, Secretaries Dhiraj Garbyal, Sridhar Babu Addanki, C Ravi Shankar,Ahmed Iqbal and other officers attended the meeting.
