Shillong, Aug 28: Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Ramdas Athawale has assured that the Centre would sanction Rs 2 crore for the construction of the Incubation Centre building at the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong.
“I have assured them (NEHU) that I will discuss with the union minister for Human Resource Development and I will try to sanction Rs 2 crore for the building of the incubation centre,†Athawale told reporters after inaugurating the centre in presence of Arts and Culture Minister AL Hek here on Wednesday.
The objective of the incubation centre is drawn from the vision of Prime Minister’s “Self-efficiency in country’s products under Make in India†to provide an ecosystem for start-ups, in offer guidance, mentoring, physical space and network for funding and value based collaboration for incubation and novel ideas.
The incubation centre, NEHU is open for all young and budding entrepreneurs.
Further the Centre will offer active incubation support to the new proposed ventures to become independent and self supporting over the period.
The centre will help provide technical knowhow to these ventures to become efficient, competent models so that they become eligible for formal funding support from donors, philanthropists, network partners and investors.
Earlier in his speech, Hek said this is the dream of the prime minister Narendra Modi and it has to be translated into reality.
He also suggested the University to focus more on demand-driven projects and ensure that the incubation centre should benefit the people of the state.
According to him, if projects are not linked to the need of the people, they will not be of help but instead will only be a waste of public money.
Others who spoke at the function include NEHU vice chancellor Prof SK Srivastava and member of the Incubation Centre, NEHU Management Committee, Prof Devesh Walia.