PUDUCHERRY: Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment A Narayana Samy launched the PM Vishwakarma Scheme at an event in JIPMER, Puducherry on Sunday.
In his address, the union minister said, "The scheme has been launched at 70 locations across the nation. This underscores the commitment of the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to empower the Vishwakarma community, which comprises traditional artisans like blacksmiths, goldsmiths, potters, carpenters, and sculptors.
"These crafts are handed down through generations in a guru-shishya model and it deserve modern resources and training opportunities," he added. "The PM Vishwakarma Scheme aims to bridge this gap, providing financial skills and knowledge to thrive in today's competitive world."
He also detailed the scheme which provides toolkit incentives of Rs 15,000, skill development programmes with a stipend of Rs 500 per day, and collateral-free loans up to Rs 1 lakh. "This scheme, with a budget of Rs 13,000 crore, aims to benefit 30 lakh artisans in the next five years," he added.
The minister said the scheme aims to promote Vishwakarma artisans' work and connect them to bigger markets. Puducherry CM N Rangaswamy noted the scheme's potential to enhance livelihoods of artisans and thanked PM Modi for introducing it.
Speaker R Selvam, ministers A Namassivayam, C Dejacoumar and AK Sai J Saravanan Kumar, MLA AKD Arumugam, Chief Secretary Rajeev Verma, Development Commissioner-cum-Secretary for Industries and Commerce P Jawahar, Director of Industries PT Rudra Goud, and hundreds of artisans attended the event.