Telangana makes the best of agri business scheme

Hyderabad: It is not just the women in urban areas of Telangana who are turning entrepreneurs but also those in rural pockets, particularly from scheduled tribes, who are running their own businesses. Among the 384 ST women trained under the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare’s ‘Establishment of AgriClinics and Agri-Business Centres (AC&ABC)’ scheme across […]

Hyderabad: It is not just the women in urban areas of Telangana who are turning entrepreneurs but also those in rural pockets, particularly from scheduled tribes, who are running their own businesses.

Among the 384 ST women trained under the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare’s ‘Establishment of AgriClinics and Agri-Business Centres (AC&ABC)’ scheme across the country, 48 are from Telangana. Of the 77 ventures set up in 22 States, nine have been set up in Telangana — the highest for a single State.

The AC&ABC scheme aims at promoting entrepreneurship, supporting agricultural development and creating gainful self-employment opportunities for unemployed youths with qualifications in agriculture and allied sectors, union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrashekhar informed Lok Sabha on Monday.

Replying to a question by MP Vijay Kumar Dubey, the Minister said a subsidy of Rs 13.2 lakh was granted for two ventures in Telangana. Under this programme, the subsidy was admissible for loans up to Rs 20 lakh in the case of individuals and Rs 100 lakh for group projects (ventures set up by a group of five trained candidates), he said.

Interestingly, in the BJP-ruled States of Gujarat, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, the participation of women in the training programme was much lower as compared to Telangana.