Tamil Nadu: CM Stalin Rejects PM Modi’s Vishwakarma Scheme

Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin said a firm ‘no’ to the Prime Minister’s Vishwakarma Scheme since it, in its present form, strengthened the system of caste-based vocation and assured to come up with an alternative comprehensive scheme to empower traditional artisans in Tamil Nadu under the overall principle of social justice. In a letter to Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Jitan Ram Manjhi on Tuesday, Stalin said the State Government scheme would be more inclusive and comprehensive for artisans without discriminating on the basis of caste. Referring to his earlier letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 4, 2024, requesting for modifications in the Prime Minister’s Vishwakarma scheme, Stalin said since he had received a reply from the Union Minister of MSMEs on March 15 with no mention of the modifications suggested, the State government would not be taking forward the implementation of the PM Vishwakarma scheme in its present form. After writing to the Prime Minister, expressing the State government’s opinion and requesting for modification in the scheme, a committee, set up to study it, made three recommendations that include removal of the mandatory need for the applicant’s family to be engaged in the family based traditional trade.