Union Minister for MSME Nitin Gadkari has written to all industry associations and registered MSMEs, urging them to plant as many trees as they can before the end of the monsoon season. 

In the letter, Gadkari suggested that each small enterprise can plant and maintain a minimum of five trees, each medium enterprise at least 50 trees and micro enterprises can plant and maintain as many trees as possible for them. 

The MSME minister also said the trees should be of local variety, indigenous to the area like fruit trees, neem, peepal etc. 

A few days ago, Gadkari had said the government plans to promote large-scale production of honey as a means to increase job opportunities in rural and tribal areas, and a policy for this will soon be formulated.

Nitin Gadkari met Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Social Justice and Empowerment minister Thawarchand Gehlot, and Tribal Affairs minister Arjun Munda to discuss how employment avenues can be generated through encouraging honey production by MSMEs.

Earlier this month, Gadkari again emphasised his focus on honey production. Speaking about the government's initiative to launch a portal for marketing of goods made by MSMEs and khadi, Gadkari said, "Through this portal, even a beekeeper can sell his/her product to any part of the world."

He also said the portal will be inspired by Chinese ecommerce portal Alibaba and Amazon. Gadkari said his target is to increase the share of MSMEs to 50 percent of GDP in the next five years, and added that the sector would add 15 crore jobs.

Last month, Gadkari made a similar announcement about the portal and MSME Secretary Arun Kumar Panda said the talks have just begun in this regard. Gadkari added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of making India a $5 trillion economy can only be fulfilled by ensuring the growth of the MSME sector in the country. 

Published On : 15-07-2019

Source : SMB Story