Project self-employment as respectable: President Kovind

Mumbai: President Ram Nath Kovind today said the government and NGOs should project self-employment as a “respectable profession” and urged young Indians to generate employment instead of seeking jobs. People should take up self-employment not because of compulsion but because they choose to, he said.

“Many programmes, such as the Mudra Yojana, Startup India and Stand Up India, are helping the youth in empowerment to make them job givers instead of …job seekers,” he said. Government departments, NGOs and semi-government bodies should push for a culture where self-employment is seen as a respectable profession, he said.

“It should be encouraged. The decision of opting for self-employment should not be based on some compulsion but one should choose it,” Kovind said. He also said an important outcome of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana was that out of 30 crore new bank accounts, more than 50 per cent were opened by women.

It is a welcome and empowering development for working women, the president said. He was speaking at the inauguration of the Economic Democracy Conclave organised by Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, a charitable organisation located in Thane district.