How many government schemes are currently in place to support our MSMEs? ? You may find this question a little difficult to answer! The same thing applies to the scores of skill development programmes offered by the Skill Development ministry. Every now and then we hear about launching new such initiatives, but most of them fail to reach the deserving beneficiaries. Awareness drives could be the key to getting rid of this challenge.

The MSME ministry recently announced that it would send teams of officials to 117 naxalite-hit 'Aspirational Districts' to spread awareness about its existing schemes. 'Aspirational Districts' are those districts which have been identified by the NITI Aayog under a programme that aims to transform these districts, based on three broad goals: convergence of Central & State Schemes, collaboration of Central, State level 'Prabhari' Officers & District Collectors, and competition among districts driven by a mass movement.

Again last week, the Skill Development ministry announced that it would send senior officers to the all 'Aspirational Districts' between October 2, 2018 and January 26, 2019. The objective is to understand the challenges faced by the district administrations in implementing skill programs. In a bid to take a stock taking of the available skill ecosystem, this team of officers will interact with Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras, training providers, ITIs, Polytechnics and JSS administrations.

Needless to say, these are welcome initiatives. Many of our MSMEs and start-ups are still unaware of the dozens of schemes and programmes being undertaken by the Central and State governments for their promotion. It is equally true that majority of such initiatives, despite having high potential to promote entrepreneurship, hardly succeed due to their implementation with poor understanding of the ground realities. These gaps need to be filled.

I invite your opinions.