http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/dalit-students-to-become-entrepreneurs/184860.html
Dalit students to become entrepreneurs C ShivakumarFirst Published : 27 Jun 2010 02:37:15 AM ISTLast Updated : CHENNAI: After his father's death, Parthiban did odd jobs to feed his family. The commerce graduate from Kovilpatti's GVN college tried hard for a government job. He became a daily wage labourer earning Rs 200. But life took a turn when he was selected for the monthlong residential entrepreneur development programme early this month. The entrepreneurship programme designed by Pradipta K Mohapatra, exchairman, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Southern Region and chairman, Governing Board, Executive and Business Coaching Foundation India Limited, Sudeep Jain, EDI special officer, Pandia Rajan, the managing Director of MA FOI, Management Consultants, K Ranganathan, chairman and managing director of CavinKare, and Prof Jhunjhunwala of IIT. Confident and armed with entrepreneurial skills, Prathiban is among the new breed of 27 young dalit entrepreneurs who want to start their own business. "Dalits are at the tailend of the social spectrum. They are hardworking and have the skills but don't have confidence and are traditionally guided by others," said Chandrakant B Kamble, the managing director of Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing Development Corporation. He added that these skills will make them job generators. "They can go back to their villages and generate jobs and wealth," said Kamble. "During the training, the students met real time first generation entrepreneurs and learnt from their experiences," Pradipta K Mohapatra said. The real competition will be on June 29 when the entrepreneurs will be wooing investors with their presentations, he said. He said the CII is committed to inclusive growth and this scheme will produce several thousands of SC/ST employers. "If these entrepreneurs can employ people in rural areas it will be a fabulous idea," he said. Sudeep Jain said initially 50 colleges were targeted but many backed out due to exams. There were 16 colleges who participated and of the 362 people, 50 were selected (27 of them dalits). "The government is spending Rs 15,000 for dalit students," he said. And if the scheme is successful, soon smaller cities like Coimbatore, Madurai and Trichy will be targeted. Dalit student Jayadivya S plans to start organic farming in the land bought by her father. She said some of her ideas already had resulted in queries from few investors. But Parthiban feels some more time is required. "I want to work for six more months before starting my own enterprise," he said. On June 30, Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin will honour the entrepreneurs with certificates.
