Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Legal Metrology and Tribal Affairs, Choudhary Zulfkar Ali today announced one cluster in each district of the state to be developed at a cost of Rs. 15 lakh per cluster and directed the concerned authorities to undertake exercise for forming homogenous clusters.Zulfkar gave these directions while chairing a meeting of officers of J&K SC, ST & BC Development Corporation held to review the working of the corporation.Vice Chairman, State Advisory Board for Development of Scheduled Caste Bushan Lal Dogra, Vice Chairman, State Advisory Board for Development of Gujjar & Bakerwal Gulzar Ahmad Khatana, Vice Chairperson, J&K SC, ST & BC Development Corporation Balbir Ram Rattan besides Managing Director, J&K SC, ST & BC Development Corporation R.K. Pandita, Special Secretary Tribal Affairs Department M.S. Chowdhary, Director Tribal Affairs Department Mohammad Rafi, Secretary State Advisory Board for Development of Gujjar & Bakerwal Mukhtar Ahmed Choudhary and senior officers of the Corporation were also present in the meeting.It was decided in the meeting that the corporation will come out with a proposal of financing ST beneficiaries for ventures with a unit cost of Rs. 5.00 Lakh per unit which will be funded by the Tribal Affairs Department. A target of 100 units will be projected in the next year plan for execution.
While discussing the matter regarding ceiling of income criteria for availing loan under Direct Financing Scheme of the corporation prescribed by the National Scheduled Tribes Finance & Development Corporation, New Delhi, the Minister said that there is need to revisit the same so as to bring more ST beneficiaries within its ambit. The Minister asked the corporation to submit a proposal in this regard at the earliest.Zulfkar directed all the District Managers to conduct a survey of all entrepreneurs belonging to SC/ST category whether financed by this Corporation, by any other financial institution or those carrying these activities on their own and submit the details to Managing Director of the Corporation by or before February 01, 2018 without fail.It was further decided that the Corporation will undertake Identification of Scheduled Tribes beneficiaries presently undertaking different trades on their own on a low scale, for providing required training in the same trade through some recognized training Institutes followed by subsequent financing.For up scaling of quality of tribal products by providing them adequate training through recognized training institutes, a proposal shall be submitted by the Corporation to the Tribal Affairs Department, stressed the Minister.The other major issues discussed included issuance of Route Permits to ST beneficiaries desirous of obtaining loan from the corporation for plying passengers vehicles, filling up of vacant posts of the Corporation, one time settlement of Bad Debit of the Corporation, etc.Earlier, the Minister chaired a meeting with officers to discuss the issues for utilizing the fair price shops as also Common Services Centers (CSC) under the Digital India Programme.