IT News
Imphal, Sept. 20
Chief Minister N. Biren Singh has said that Manipur is gifted with rich natural wealth and beauty and people of the State has enormous talents. This was stated by him at the “Manipur Start Up Conclave, 2019” and launching of MyGov Manipur at City Convention Centre, Imphal today.
Speaking as Chief Guest of the function, Chief Minister said that he is delighted to see the youths coming out with ideas, initiatives and innovations that would bring change in our society. He mentioned that for decades, due to insurgency, Manipur has gone through a difficult period when our imagination and innovative ideas were curtailed. However after the present government comes to power, there is peace and a new chapter has been started in the State, he added.
Chief Minister said that under the leadership of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, ‘Startup India’ was taken up with the objective to build a strong start-up eco-system for nurturing innovation and entrepreneurship in the country. Similarly in Manipur, “Manipur Start-Up” was initiated to provide the enabling eco-system to support and nurture startups in the region.
Expressing happiness over the potential of the youth for their talent, ideas and innovations, Chief Minister assured that the government would increase the budget for the ‘Manipur Start-up Scheme’. He mentioned that this year, we received a total of 3966 applicants out of which 798 were shortlisted. 98 startups under Revenue stage, 579 startups under Idea stage and 177 under Entrepreneurs Support Scheme (ESS) were selected to provide loans under the scheme. He thanked the banks including SBI, Bank of Baroda, UBI, MSCB etc for supporting and encouraging the entrepreneurs of the State.
Stating that the state has lot to offer in terms of tourism, Chief Minister said that the future of Manipur lies in the tourism sector. He maintained that government is planning to take up a tourism project where an MLA would develop a tourist spot at their constituency to attract tourists. In the last two and half years, the influx of foreign tourist is increasing drastically from 500-600 per year during 2014-15, 2015-16 to above 10,000 tourists every month since 2017 onwards, he added.
Expressing concern over the steep rise in the price of local produced rice in the State, he said that the government is enforcing the Manipur Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act to save our paddy fields. There is a need for vertical expansion rather than horizontal expansion for construction purposes in the State, he added.
He stated that the government is planning to replace the diesel auto-rickshaws to e-rickshaws to minimise air and noise pollution in the Imphal city area. He urged the banks provide loans to those auto drivers who want to procure e-rickshaws to replace their diesel-autos.
During the programme, brief presentations of six selected successful Start-ups were showcased. The Chief Minister and other dignitaries distributed the grants and sanction letter to be borne by the State Government to the selected Start-Ups and Entrepreneur under the scheme.
Deputy Chief Minister Y. Joykumar Singh, Cabinet Ministers, MLAs, HODs of various departments, officials of different departments and others attended the function.
