The Cottage and Small Industries Development Committee (CSIDC) has planned to provide training in carpentry and masonry to 2,000 people in 10 earthquake affected districts.

It has been providing cottage industry training to 100 people in 48 remote districts, and plans to expand its programmes to 94 electoral constituencies considering establishing an industrial village each, said the committee in a press statement.

The CSIDC added that it started providing training in making cloth and paper bags after the Environment Ministry banned the use of certain plastic bags in the Kathmandu Valley,

Speaking at a review

meeting of the CSIDC’s progress in the last fiscal year, Industry Minister Mahesh Basnet said the government had introduced new programmes to promote cottage and small industries in this fiscal year’s budget.

The committee’s Executive Director Ghanraj Pant said it had been conducting various programmes despite its small budget. The committee achieved 79 percent progress in the last fiscal year.

Devolution of MED lauded

 Industry Minister Mahesh Basnet has said that the progress made towards the devolution of micro enterprise development (MED) has stood as a crucial achievement in Nepal’s poverty alleviation efforts. Addressing a workshop organized by the Ministry of Industry in Kathmandu this week, Minister Basnet said MED was an example of the collaboration between the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development.

“The devolution of the MED sector to local bodies will have a lasting impact towards accelerating Nepal’s poverty alleviation initiatives.” The Industry Ministry has been implementing the Micro Enterprise Development Programme (MEDEP) through local bodies. Currently implemented in 64 districts, the government plans to expand the programme to all the districts in the country by 2017-18.

After Nepal started decentralization, only five sectors have been devolved to the local bodies: primary education, primary healthcare, agriculture extension, livestock extension and local infrastructure development. MED will be the sixth devolved sector in Nepal.