Prime Minister's employment generation programme in Sikkim: An analysis

The generation of productive remunerated employment is an indispensable component in the fight against Poverty. For employment generation, various programmes were introduced by the Government to make the youth self-employed. PMEGP is one of employment generation programme designed to provide employment to educated unemployed youth of rural and urban areas. The aim of the present research paper is to analyze the performance of PMEGP in Sikkim in terms of the employment generation, project sanctioned and margin money released in a decade under PMEGP in Sikkim. It also aims at finding key problems and corrective actions to be taken for the same.

This study has employed both primary and secondary data. Data's related to employment, projects and release of margin money have been collected from KVIC Gangtok, Sikkim. Personal interview with the senior officials of the agency were conducted to gain insights regarding the same. The period of study is from 2008–09 to 2016–17. The data's have been analyzed with the simple application of MS excel. The findings lay the emphasis on developing the awareness programmes as well as Skill Development infrastructure with a well integrated course and training schedule complimenting the geographical and personal requirements of the workforce in the North Eastern States of India.