Impact of Khadi and Village Industries (KVIs) in the Economy of ASSAM
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Abstract
Agriculture is the backbone of state's economy. It accounts more than one-third of the state's income and about 69 per cent of the total working force in the state is engaged either directly or indirectly in this sector. However, this sector has not been developed sufficiently and failed to provide sufficient employment opportunities to rural masses. Consequently, large numbers of rural people of Assam are deprived of the minimum basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, health, education, clean water etc. Under such circumstances, the Khadi and Village Industries (KVIs) would have to be played a catalystic role in a backward economy like Assam. Therefore, based on secondary data constituting various published sources i.e. books, journals, research articles, official records and reports etc., in this study an honest attempt has been made to examine the impact of KVIs in the economy of Assam. In order to measure the impact of KVIs in Assam three important parameters such as employment generation, production and resource generation have been analysed for a period of three years. After verification of statistical data, it is found that except Pottery Industries (36.26 per cent) and Bee Keeping Industries (28.61 per cent), the impact of other KVIs in employment generation is disappointing. Besides, the study also showed that the production and resource generation of KVIs in Assam was not satisfactory. The production and resource generation of khadi industries was very negligible in comparison to village industries. To sum up, the impact of KVIs in employment generation, production and resource generation in Assam is not at all satisfactory due to various constraints faced by these industries. The study also incorporates some meaningful suggestions to overcome the weaknesses faced by KVIs of Assam. Certain initiatives should be taken by the Government of Assam as well as financial institutions in order to realise the objectives of KVIs in Assam.