SHILLONG: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Friday said that adequate manpower in banks across the North East would contribute to social empowerment of the indigenous people of the region.
“In many rural areas of North East including Meghalaya, the inadequate manpower in the banks poses a real hindrance for the people. I would like to urge the SBI officials to ensure that adequate manpower is allocated to rural branches of the banks that would cater to the needs of our people,” the Chief Minister said addressing the 16th Annual General Conference of SBI SC/ST Employees Association (SEWA) at Nehu Auditorium here.
Assuring to work for the welfare of SC/ST employees at different platform as and when the need arises, he told the SBI officials to also ensure that indigenous people are also given priority when they apply for loans to start entrepreneurial ventures.
“If deserving indigenous people of the region approach banks to set up their own ventures banks should help, assist and guide them. Banks should be in a position to take calculated risk to help our young boys and girls, so that they are able to pursue their passion to start entrepreneurial activities in the region,” he added.
He told the gathering that the state government has started a number of initiatives to promote entrepreneurship in the state and is also likely to start an incubation centre to promote music and art.
“Our boys and girls are talented in the field of music, so it is our responsibility to ensure that they are able to earn a living from it.
We want to promote artistes interested in music by giving them an opportunity and a platform,” he said.
Stating that a number of youth in Meghalaya have talent in the field of photography, but they were just doing it for passion due to absence of guidance and a platform, he said “we want to ensure that such people find a space to use their talent to earn a living for themselves.”
Urging the officials of the banks to have “purpose driven” mindset, he said, “It should be an incumbent responsibility on all of us to have the attitude to walk an extra mile, so that we are able to achieve the desired goal.”
During the programme, the Chief Minister also paid floral tribute to Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution and the champion of the SC/ST communities.
Notably, 42 per cent of the work force of SBI in the North East is from SC/ST.