Sitharaman assures Meghalaya of Central support

Staff Reporter

Shillong, March 13: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has assured to extend support to the state government of Meghalaya.

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This was informed by the Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong. “Chief Minister and I were in Delhi a few days back. As a courtesy, we met the President and a few more leaders including the Union Finance Minister. We discussed the financial position of the state and it is very positive from her (Nirmala) side that she will be with us, bailing us out as far as financial position is concerned,” Tynsong told reporters.

When asked if the financial position of the state is bad, the deputy chief minister however said, “No, not bad at all but what I am saying is she is very supportive to us.”

Shillong gets Digital design labs for livelihood at Don Bosco Technical School

Staff Reporter

Shillong, March 12: Secretary, NEC, K Moses Chalai inaugurated the project namely Digital Design Labs for Livelihood Generation recently here at Don Bosco Technical School, Shillong.

Present in the event were Sherry Lalthangzo, Economic Adviser (E&M), NEC, S Sundar, MD, AMTRON, Guwahati, Fr.  Sagi Stephan of Don Bosco Technical School, Shillong, Tanung Jamoh, Director (S&T), NEC, ALIMCO officers and other Senior Officers of NEC.

This project is being funded by NEC at a cost of about Rs. 5 crore combined with ACC Institute, Senapati, Manipur. The Centres developed will be providing training of use case deployment for technologies namely Graphic Designing and Animation with high end Softwares.

Later on, it will move towards 3D printing, 5G applications, digital designing of training/ instructional videos/3D Animations in different languages including local North Eastern Languages.

The day marks one of the modest initiatives in NER towards Digital and 4.0 Industry journey which will open up to huge scope and opportunities ahead in Digital space in the days to come. NEC along with the Ministry of IB is starting a training programme in March 2023 namely Animation 3D courses for 100 youths of NER in Delhi.

Very soon, NEC along with the Ministry of DoNER and AMTRON will take up 3D Printing project in the 8 NER States, which would be a revolutionary move. Also, along with AMTRON, NEC will also take up 5G Applications training in the 8 NER States, which will be up and running in the next 2 or 3 months again to open up multiple opportunities as 5G is already underway. NER is already quite challenged in terms of economic transformation and job opportunities particularly for the youth.

This initiative is in line with the vision of the Prime Minister which he spoke about when he addressed the NEC Plenary in Shillong in 2016 and emphasized the need for economic transformation in the NER region from time to time.

Upscaling Hobby to Business- the story of Harador Khariong’s Plant Parenthood

“If done with full commitment and passion whether it’s art, science or music, one can achieve their goal to make things work better and the satisfaction you will get is beyond your imagination”— Harador Khariong, Founder-Plant Parenthood
For Harador Khariong, a resident of Wahingdoh Shillong, East Khasi Hills Meghalaya, Plant Parenthood started as a hobby and out of love for plants during her college days. This eventually became more interesting and turned to be a career option in planting in the year 2020, especially succulents because they were relatively easier to take care of.
It was during the Northeast Food Show 2022 that Harador saw few entrepreneurs with their stall under the umbrella of PRIME, after which she learned in detail about PRIME and how it has helped entrepreneurs succeed in their business. Therefore, in the same year she enrolled herself in the Pre – Incubation batch 3.
Through the PRIME’s Pre-Incubation program, she learned more about upscaling her business and ultimately launched the ‘Plant Parenthood’ initiative.
This article has been featured in collaboration with PRIME Entrepreneurship Meghalaya. To know more about PRIME, visit: https://www.primemeghalaya.com/

From shop keeping to becoming a knitting entrepreneur- The story of Malpleasha Mylliemngap

Shillong | March 8, 2023
Malpleasha Mylliemngap, is a mother of 5 who hails from Laitkroh, East Khasi Hills, Meghalaya. Prior to taking up knitting garments as a full fledged business activity, her main source of livelihood was through shop keeping. Knitting was only a hobby before she took it up as a livelihood activity.
It was on days when her shopkeeping business was very low that she started knitting boots for babies through which she received many other orders because of the unique designs and quality products. Soon after, she also got orders for knitted scarves and shawls. Through her undivided commitment and perseverance, more orders came in for knitted caps, socks, purses, hoodies and dresses. She extensively relied on YouTube tutorials to learn different techniques and designs.
She also started a knitting class at the cost of five hundred rupees (₹500/-) per person where she provides training to the youth not only to upskill them but for employment generation. She has created a name for herself in her village and her daughter who is also a nurse makes time amidst her busy schedule to learn her mother’s craft.
Malpleasha wishes to expand her business and be able to be completely depend on it for her daily sustenance. As the knitting process is a tedious one that requires a lot of time and patience along with skills, it was a challenge for her to complete all orders on time because she did not have additional skilled manpower to help her. She also struggles with the lack of readily available and cheaper wool. The wool that she uses is bought from Shillong which is approximately 25km from her village.
Her enthusiasm for knitting led her to get identified under the PRIME Sauramandala Rural Entrepreneurship Programme (PSREF), a project under PRIME Meghalaya. Now she also hopes to come up with an official brand name for her products and also be financially able to purchase machines to produce uniform products. She was able to make the most use of support provided to her as part of the PRIME programme that helped her realize her potential.
This article has been featured in collaboration with PRIME Entrepreneurship Meghalaya. To know more about PRIME, visit: https://www.primemeghalaya.com/