SHILLONG: Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE), Guwahati organised a sensitization workshop on cluster development for the state of Meghalaya at Raitong Building here on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters, Senior Project Officer of IIE, Hemanta Rabha said the IIE was looking forward to identify more clusters in the state of Meghalaya to ensure artisans can sustain their livelihood by working in the very grassroot level in the village areas.
He informed that the IIE is implementing the cluster development project in entire North eastern states since 2009 and till date, IIE has promoted 23 clusters in the North East.
The clusters implemented in Meghalaya till date were : the Umden Eri Cluster in Ri-Bhoi District, Cashewnut cluster in Selsella.
Stating that the cashewnut cluster is well advanced, he said, “We have sent a proposal to the Ministry for setting up the common facilitation center (CFC). As for the Umden Eri cluster, we have already set up a mini CFC in convergence with the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) scheme.”
The objective of the workshop was to orient the prospective stakeholders on cluster development such as officials of Industry department, banks and financial institutions and line departments in the state of Meghalaya for collaborative effort in identifying probable clusters in the state and further carrying out cluster development initiatives.
The IIE is an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, government of India. The IIE is implementing various cluster development projects through its Regional Resource Center (RRC) on cluster development in North Eastern Region.
Brief information about newly identified clusters, i.e. Sohryngkham Tailoring Cluster, Chokpot Cane & Bamboo Cluster, Nongpoh Food Processing Cluster, Zikzak & Betasing Handloom Cluster were discussed in the technical session at the workshop.