Electric Chaak to 150 Kumhar Families in Bihar

Patna: Ahead of state assembly elections, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Member of Parliament and former Union Agriculture Minister, Radha Mohan Singh distributed electric potter wheels (chaak) and other equipment like blunger machines and pug millsto 150 potter families in East Champaran district in Bihar, today.

The beneficiaries who were given electric chaak after comprehensive 10-day training also included migrant workers who had returned to their home town facing financial distress in the Covid-19 lockdown.

“This initiative is a step towards creating sustainable self-employment and will benefit nearly 600 persons of the Kumhar community in East Champaran district, a Ministry of Micro,Small & Medium Enterprises spokesperson stated today.

The pottery equipment had been distributed under Kumhar Sashaktikaran Yojana of the KVIC which aims at strengthening the marginalized potters’ community and increasing their income by enhancing their productivity. “KVIC has set a target of distributing 500 electric chaak in Bihar in order to empower the potters’ community and create local livelihood opportunities,” the Ministry informed.

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Speaking on the occasion, Radha Mohan Singh lauded KVIC for undertaking the employment generation programs in Bihar. He said KVIC’s schemes like Honey Mission and Kumhar Sashaktikaran Yojana had the potential of creating large-scale employment in the state which had a vast rural population. “With such employment generating schemes of the Central government, the youth of Bihar will no longer have to migrate to other states in search of jobs,” he said.

KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said there was a great employment potential for potters in Bihar. “By providing them with pottery training, the KVIC is creating employment at doorsteps for these people. While this will help us revive the art of pottery, it will also increase the income of the potter’s community by 4-5 times,” Saxena said. He further said the KVIC will also roll out new initiatives like empowerment of leather artisans (Mochi) and Project DigniTEA in Bihar for creating sustainable employment soon. Under Project DiniTEA, KVIC distributes cycle-mounted tea/coffee selling units to unemployed youth where the beneficiaries can sell tea/coffee in a hygienic condition and earn respectable livelihood.

Under Kumhar Sashaktikaran Yojana, KVIC has distributed more than 17,000 electric chaak to potters’ community across the country and “thus benefiting over 70,000 people through this scheme”, the Ministry stated.

– globalbihari bureau