Three Key Actors for Job Creation:
Public, Private, and Community
India is a
rapidly growing economy and there are significant opportunities for new
businesses. Micro, small and medium enterprises are regarded as the
backbone of the Indian economy, accounting for nearly 30 per cent of the
country’s GDP in 2020.1 However, only 11 per cent of jobs are
created by micro-enterprises.2 There is an opportunity to
catalyse job creation and provide inclusive growth within communities by
promoting, sustaining, and accelerating micro enterprises that also have
a significant impact on the environment.
Over the decades, the government has
undertaken various development initiatives aimed at empowering
communities and creating jobs. However, most of these development plans
have been carried out unilaterally by the government and met with
limited success. Additionally, the government in the recent decades has
also been implementing development models along the public–private
partnership (PPP) framework. The sharp criticism of such welfare
initiatives, schemes, and models would be that most of them are linear,
top–down, and do not align with aspirations and strengths of
entrepreneurs and the communities.3 However, the success of
such development models and solutions is determined by the magnitude of
synergies that can be achieved by the three development actors, viz.,
the public sector, the private sector, and, equally important but most
critical – the communities and civil society.
The Public–Private–Community Partnership
approach
The Development Alternatives (DA) Group has
been using a public–private–community partnership (PPCP) approach to
empower rural and marginalised communities, and create jobs through
micro-entrepreneurship. The Indian Micro Enterprises Development
Foundation, a special purpose vehicle of the DA Group, has developed
diverse clusters all across India under the Scheme of Fund for
Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI), an initiative of the
Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, to promote cluster
development.
SFURTI clusters exemplify the contribution
of all the three key actors – public, private, and community – to create
centres of economic development for rural communities. These centres
ensure enhanced livelihoods in a market-driven approach supported by
both public and private stakeholders.
![](Image/pg2-2.jpg)
Women artisans at work in the Jungle Mahal
Tasar
Home furnishing products produced in the cluster
Silk Cluster in Jhargram, West Bengal
The Tasar
Silk Cluster
Consider the
example of the Jungle Mahal Tasar Silk Cluster in Jhargram
district of West Bengal. It is run by a Community Trust, and 997 women
from local tribal communities produce reel yarn, spun yarn, tasar silk
fabric, and various products in it. Under the SFURTI scheme, the
Ministry of MSME has provided the cluster a core grant of INR 456.89
lakh, and facilitated the setting up of a common facility centre,
spinning machines, and cocoon banks.
In addition to the SFURTI assistance, funding of around INR 847 lakhs
has been provided to the cluster through various line departments and
development boards of the government and in the form of CSR funds from
private organisations. Such sources include Livelihoods Funds Scheme,
Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, Central Silk Board, and SELCO Foundation.
Besides securing livelihoods of local tribal communities, the cluster is
estimated to mitigate on an average 14,500 tonnes of carbon emissions
annually through plantation and application of renewable energy as part
of its Carbon Credit mechanism. Such a synergistic partnership model has
ensured the availability of public sector investment and resources in
the form of government grants, additional investment, support services
and technology solutions through the private sector, and participation
and ownership by local community institutions, in the joint initiative.
The PPCP model, brought in action in 29 clusters spread across India,
has demonstrated the effectiveness of such partnerships in creating a
win-win situation for all the stakeholders, and co-providing social,
economic, and environmental benefits to the larger community. The DA
Group will continue building an inclusive ecosystem for
entrepreneurship-led job creation with the three key actors.
References
1Ministry
of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. 2021. Contribution of MSMEs to
GDP. Last accessed on 20 May, 2022 at
https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1744032
2Ministry
of Statistics and Programme Implementation. 2013. Sixth Economic
Census Report. Last accessed on 20 May, 2022 at
http://mospi.nic.in/all-india-report-sixth-economic-census 3Satar,
M. S. 2016. A policy framework for social entrepreneurship in India.
Department of Management Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi, India.
IOSR Journal of Business and Management 18(9): 30–43
Sudhir Sah
ssah@devalt.org
Col. Raman Thapar
rthapar@devalt.org
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