Week-long entrepreneurship development programme begins for Lepcha youth

GANGTOK, 14 Feb: A week-long entrepreneurship development programme, with special focus on skill enhancement and financial management, for Lepcha youth started today at Hotel Mistree Mountain here at Hospital Point.
The programme is funded under SCA to TSP, Government of India [2013-14] for the welfare of Primitive Tribe [Lepcha] community of Sikkim and organized by Primitive Tribe Welfare Board [PTWB], Department of Social Justice, Empowerment and Welfare/ Welfare Division.
More than 35 educated Lepcha youth from all over the state are taking part in the programme to be held from 14 to 20 February.
The inaugural programme today had Tshering Wangdi Lepcha [MLA, Lachen-Mangshila constituency and chairman, PTWD] as the chief guest, accompanied by GP Upadhyaya [Principal Secretary, SJE&WD and Member Secretary, PTWD], SD Tshering [Director, DESME], Januki Pradhan [Special Secretary/Project Director, SJE&WD], officials of SJE&WD and members of PTWD.
In his address to the participants, the chief guest Tshering Wangdi Lepcha informed that this was the second such programme being held for the youth by the Board. He also thanked the Chief Minister for conceptualizing the formation of the Primitive Tribe Welfare Board for the upliftment of the Lepcha community in Sikkim, but rued the fact that opposition parties and people with vested interests in the state were raising fingers and putting useless allegations in the formation of the said Board.
Leadership, he stated does not mean just leadership in politics, there can be leaders in various other fields too and to become leaders one needs determination, he said to the participants. Citing the examples of Bhaichung Bhutia and Uttam Pradhan, who became good leaders in their own fields, he added that there was need of good leadership in NGOs and Cooperative Societies in the state.
“There are a lot of welfare schemes that have been provided to the people by the department but have not seen much output as of now and so when the Board was provided with the said funds we wanted to use it for the purpose of education for the Lepcha children of the state but due to time constraints the idea could not materialize as planned, but this idea will be looked into certainly in the coming days”, he stated. He also informed of the various other training programmes planned by the Board, such as training in video & photography, driving, hotel management, etc for the youth.
“It is up to you all to take advantage of this programme, so don’t take the programme lightly, attend the programme continuously and learn from the resource persons”, he said and added that there is no substitute for merit and hard work and above all one should not forget one’s tradition and culture.
Sikkim, he stated is moving ahead in the right direction as we are very lucky to have an experienced and visionary leader as our Chief Minister.
In his brief address, the Principal Secretary, SJE&WD and Member Secretary, PTWD, GP Upadhyaya stated that this is a very useful programme and all of the participants should learn the leadership qualities taught through this programme from the resource persons since, he added, the captain of a team inspires confidence. This is a two part programme and it is necessary for all to take maximum benefits from the programme, he added.
He further informed of the various schemes for the development of the Lepcha youth being initiated by the SJE&W Department under the Welfare Board for the development of the community.