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| Sunday, 16 May 2004 |
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Ministry to step into manufacture of consumer items The Ministry of Small and Rural Industries plans to be an intermediary in the manufacturing of day-to-day consumer items, but since the smallscale entrepreneurs operating in the villages and cities are not registered under any Government organisation it is a major obstacle faced by the ministry. Minister of Small and Rural Industries K.D. Lal Kantha said the ministry is now in the process of finding a method to identify the smallscale entrepreneurs scattered around the country. "Since the ministry cannot do this exercise alone we would get the help of the schools, village temples as well as the various organisations at village level. "Once we complete this exercise we would identify their needs to upgrade the products be it training, technological aid, finding new markets, introducing of new consumers," Minister Lal Kantha said. The ministry would classify the manufacturers by village or product as this would help streamline the future projects as well. " We are also planning to launch a project to teach the value of local products at school level," the minister said. "The organisations under the Small and Rural Industries are more related to the promoting of Arts and Crafts rather than consumer items so we want to get away from this concept as promoting the manufacture of consumer items is more essential than other items which at most times are only purchased once in a lifetime," the minister added. "This does not mean that we would neglect the traditional crafts industry. We will assist them while at the same time promoting the manufacture of consumer items as well, he said. Among the other plans of the ministry are identifying the needs of the consumers of each village and deriving a method to manufacture the items needed by the village to make each village self sufficient. This method would provide employment while it would also stop the money flowing out of the village. "We would look for substitute raw materials in the event of manufacturers experience scarcity in finding raw materials to continue with their respective industries, the minister said. The ministry is also planning to get involved in the importing of silver. By this method we would be in a position to give it to manufacturers of silver jewellery and other items at a much cheaper rate. At present silver is imported by the private sector, he said. He also said the ministry at present spends Rs550,000 a month on rent. "Therefore we are trying to shift the ministry to a Government owned building so that we can use money for another project. During the previous regime the ministry had hired two vehicles at a cost of Rs 45,000 each. We have returned the two vehicles which had saved us a sum of Rs 90,000 a month," the minister said. "At present the ministry spends Rs 1,50,000 on its electricity bill alone. We want to reduce these unwanted expenditures and use the money for the benefit of society the minister said. Minister Lal Kantha said that they would conduct inquiries into the reported corruption and malpractices at the National Crafts Council and Laksala under the previous regime. |
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