Relevance and Achievements

Role and relevance of Entrepreneurial Development Programme (EDP) in the process of economic development and growth of a nation is immense. Various EDPs are designed to develop and improve entrepreneurial skills and behavioural adjustment needed to go through the stresses of initial stages. Different programmes are designed for different trades, industries and big projects.

Basically the EDPs are meant to train and develop new entrepreneurs who act as catalytic agents in the process of industrialization and economic growth. It is the entrepreneur who organises and puts to use capital, labour and technology in the best possible manner for the setting up of his enterprise. The entrepreneur with his vision and ability to bear risk can transform the economic scene of the country. They play a vital role in initiating and sustaining the process of economic development of a nation. It is the EDP through which the entrepreneurs learn the required knowledge and skill for running the enterprise successfully which ultimately contribute towards economic progress in the following ways:

1. Creates employment opportunities:

Acute unemployment has been a chronic problem of most of the underdeveloped an developing nations of the world. EDPs help solving the problem of unemployment by creating adequate employment opportunities in setting up of their own small and big industrial unit where the unemployed are absorbed.

EDPs also help the unemployed to opt for se employment by choosing entrepreneurship as a career. In this way EDPs help the entrepreneur to get an opportunity to lead on independent and respectable life in the society and at the same time enable others to get gainful employment. Various programmes, schemes like Prim Minister’s Rozgar Yojana, NREP (National Rural Employment Programme) and IR (Integrated Rural Development Programme) etc. have been initiated by Government of In to eliminate poverty and solve the problem of unemployment.

ii. Helps in achieving Balanced Regional Development:

Successful EDPs assist in accelerating the pace of industrialisation in the backward areas and helps in reducing the concentration of economic power in the hands of a individual. Government encourages to set up industries in the backward areas to remove wide gap of income and wealth between the rich and poor. The various concessions subsidies offered by the State and Central Governments prompted the entrepreneurs to up their own small and medium industrial units in the rural and backward areas. EDPs in setting up more and more industrial units in the backward areas lead to the develop of rural sector which helps in achieving balanced regional development.

iii. Prevents Industrial Slums:

The towns and cities are highly congested and overcrowding due to the growth of industrial slums which results in overburdening of civic amenities and a lot of problems including adverse impact on the health of the people. EDPs help in solving the above problems by preventing the growth of industrial slums through dispersal of industrial units in different parts of the country including backward and rural areas. EDPs help entrepreneurs to know about the various schemes, incentives, subsides and infrastructural requirements for setting  their enterprises, particularly in backward and rural areas. This checks migration of rural people to urban sector and thus controls the growth of industrial slums.

iv. Use of Local Resources:

Plenty of locally available resources remain unutilized due to absence of initiative and lack of adequate knowledge by the entrepreneurs. Proper use of these resources will help to starve out a healthy base for rapid industrialisation and sound economic growth. EDPs can help in the proper use of locally available resources by providing proper training, guidance and education to the potential entrepreneurs.

v. Easing social tension:

EDPs help in channelizing on right lines the talent and energies of unemployed youth »1io feel frustrated after completing their education without a job or source of livelihood. Unemployment and frustration amongst the young and educated people lead to social unrest Lid tension. EDPs help in diverting the talent of the youth towards self-employment careers by establishing their own enterprises and thus creating employment opportunities for the unemployed. In this way EDPs are able to defuse the social tension and unrest among the youth.

vi. Economic Independence:

The entrepreneurs through EDPs are able to achieve economic independence of a country by producing a wide variety of better quality goods and services at competitive prices. They also through export promotion and import substitution able to earn and save urge amount of foreign exchange which is essential for the growth and development of any economy.

vii. Improves the standard of living and per-capita income:

EDPs provide the necessary support to entrepreneurs by educating them about the test innovation and techniques of production to produce a large variety of quality goods id services at competitive prices. EDPs also help in establishing more enterprises which ad to provide more employment opportunities and help in increasing the earning of the people. It will result in increase in per-capita income and thus helps in the improvement of standard of living of the people.

viii. Helps in the overall development of the nation:

Entrepreneur acts as a catalyst which helps in enhancing the various activities involved a business enterprise. In recent years EDP package, have become a vital strategy for harnessing the vast untapped human skills, and put them into industrial development. It results in the emergence of entrepreneurial opportunities in various fields which leads to all-around development in a country.