The national socio-economic scenario is more visible and promising. One hundred billion US dollar foreign exchange reserve, 7 per cent growth of Gross Domestic Product, 18 percent growth in exports, and nearly $750 million of FDIs every quarter and 220 million tonnes of food grains– indicate that the nation is advancing on the path of progress and marching towards achieving the status of a ‘Developed Nation’. Undoubtedly India may soon emerge as one of the super powers. Understanding the philosophy that "Every big takes off from a small", the architects of the Indian Constitution armed it with a special provision in the directive principles of State Policy to empower the small scale and cottage industries. It is their vision that crafted perspective plans to augur economic growth through small-scale industries, which emerged as the most vital sector in the nation’s economy.

The forty-eighth SSI board’s reports are scintillating with encouraging information. A fund of Rs.10, 000 crores, has been created by Government of India, to extend loan at a lower rate of interest to SSI sector. The third all India census of SSI indicates that there are over one crore SSI units in India and 60 per cent of them are Small Scale Service (industry related) and Business Enterprises (SSSBEs). nisiet honestly affirms that the real empowerment can be realised through.enterprise development. Interestingly, socially backward communities in the country manage 51.45 percent of the SSI units. This demonstrates the emergence of entrepreneurship from gross root level of the society, which would facilitate to accelerate economic growth of the country.

Industrial growth is the performance indicator of a healthy economy. Sustainable growth of an enterprise, whether small or large, is possible only when it is ready to adapt to the changing trends of technology and marketing. Toeing the International trend with a tinge of Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation, nisiet, has been endeavouring to achieve new benchmarks in entrepreneurship development of Small and Medium Enterprises. Underscoring the meaning of ‘Extension’ in letter and spirit, nisiet, supported by a rich infrastructure, introduced new concepts like - handholding, mentoring, on the spot field assistance and implementation of vision documentation. It is now engaged in drawing new programmes to make SSI, a formidable force in the nation building. The new road map will take nisiet to new heights, provided every associate of this institution join hands to make it possible.

Let us pledge to rededicate ourselves with heart and soul to promote micro, small, medium enterprises in a big way through a thorough and qualitative training, research, consultancy, information services and educational programmes. Updating the internal and external resources, pacing with international techniques of training and generating programmes to match the market shall unlock the faculty potential. Keeping in view the changing global scenario, we shall endeavour to produce curriculum that caters to the needs of the entrepreneurs as well as executives. Creative and groundbreaking programmes shall emerge to develop a new business orders. nisiet’s plan to spread its activities to other nations shall be a perpetual agenda. My effort shall be to find new partners in marketing nisiet’s products in India and abroad and to ensure that every trainee of the Institute to be converted into a goodwill ambassador of nisiet. This entire vision could be converted into a refreshing reality only when every one concerned accept and adopt the basic principle of any business organisation: CUSTOMER IS GOD.

nisiet has been at the forefront in executing NRF scheme and retrained rationalised employees of central and State Governments and Public Sector Enterprises through its specially established Employee Assistance Cell (EAC). Since nisiet has enormous expertise in the development of small enterprises, NRF trainees have achieved a magnificent success rate of 68 per cent in establishing small enterprises. Keeping the backdrop of NRF, the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises (MHI&PE), Government of India, formulated a new scheme, Counselling, Retraining and Redeployment (CRR), to utilise the human resources from the retired employees.

nisiet has developed a special campus called ‘Prerana’, which has been dedicated for the purpose of retraining of rationalised employees. It has established well-experienced faculty through a octagonal support system consisting of survey, counselling, consultancy, retraining, marketing, monitoring, research and documentation.

Survey reveals that systematic interventions could convert the rationalised employees into entrepreneurs. nisiet has been striving to unleash the skills of rationalised employees towards development of small enterprises. In the retraining process a ten step model has been developed by EAC of nisiet which consists of : entrepreneurial motivation, SWOT analysis, generation of business ideas, interaction with entrepreneurs, planning economic activity, market survey, project feasibility, financing options, preparation of project reports, and project implementation schedules. While implementing these programmes, nisiet’s EAC has adapted holistic approach in redeployment of rationalised employees. During pre-training, training and post-training phases, EAC team takes care of aspects like counselling of family members, providing suitable project profiles, field visits and in-plant visits for reinforcing the spirit of setting up of enterprises. Networking, through documentation, telecasting, phone-in-programmes and radio talks motivate rationalised employees in achieving their goal.

The training methods are designed to transform the rationalised employees and make them fit to set up small scale businesses. Simultaneously, a monitoring team does a follow up door-to-door campaign to convince them and establish a unit of their choice. In other words, nisiet’s responsibility does not end with imparting training but extends fruther to prepare them to sail successfully in their endeavour to set up businesses.

Since November 2001, nisiet, a model-nodal agency in the country, adopted CRR scheme by using its training methods, skills and experience and successfully implemented it to redeploy rationalised employees of CPSUs all over Andhra Pradesh. Now, nisiet’s services are being extended to Karnataka and Maharashtra also. So far nisiet has retrained over 5,000 rationalised employees of CPSUs, out of which 55 per cent have set up small enterprises. In the coming months EAC would achieve the status of ‘Centre of Excellence’ through successful implementation of the scheme for rationalised employees. Trainer’s training programmes, seminars and workshops are being organised to share the knowledge and experiences on rehabilitation of surplus man power in CPSUs. Publication of material has also been taken up to guide and coordinate with other nodal agencies in the country. nisiet’s success story to rehabilitate surplus manpower is sure to influence the private sector also.

International Women’s Day (8 March), designated so in 1909, is an occasion celebrated by women’s groups around the world. It is a day on which women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, religious, economic and political differences, come together to look back on a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development. It is a day to recount stories of ordinary women who create history replete with instances of the centuries-old struggle of women for emancipation on an equal footing with men.

While women’s contribution to the progress of India is slowly coming to be recognised, this recognition is neither adequate nor complete. It is envisaged that the print and electronic media are in a position to play an important role in focussing on the need for recognition of women’s work and struggle so as to infuse further momentum into the women’s movement. Also there is need to create other forums to recognise women’s endeavours to achieve their dreams and their successes.

The women studies cell (WSC) of nisiet was started in the year 1996 to empower women through enterprise development at micro level, to train women to run businesses and to provide necessary support systems to obtain credit and to market products. The cell is moving ahead with a mission to foster entrepreneurship development among women through research, training, extension, and consultancy and by networking with women’s development organisations. The cell envisages creation of an entrepreneurial culture among women in India and other developing nations across the globe.

nisiet has every reason to enthuse on the occasion of the International Women's Day since we at nisiet have organised several seminars, workshops and special lectures in collaboration with different institutions. We have also done tangible grassroots level work to assist women entrepreneurs over the years. We carry the conviction that formal recognition of women's achievements encourages and motivates those who would like to emulate the achievers.

nisiet in collaboration with AIMO organised a half-a-day seminar on Women in Science and Technology and Media on the eve of International Women’s Day. Over 120 women in these fields participated. Deliberations at this seminar highlighted the role of women in various fields and elaborated on equal rights and opportunities for women.

At a more practical level, nisiet also organised a National Seminar on Revitalisation of Self-Help Groups on 4–5 Mar 04. Over 50 experts from many organisations in the country participated. Specific recommendations emerged out of the workshop, which are of immense value in taking the SHG movement to other parts of the globe to universalise women empowerment. A number of other initiatives of nisiet are at the planning stage to give shape to what all are stated on any International Women’s Day.

nisiet is soon going to realise its dream also through creation of a national forum, an active body comprising successful women drawn from various fields, to promote entrepreneurship among women through enterprise development.

It may not be out of context to mention here of the visit of Ms. Navarre Marie, Hon’ble Minister for Women Rights, Child Development and Family Welfare and Mr. Jughroo, Permanent Secretary, Republic of Mauritius on 15-16 Mar 04 to Hyderabad to discuss implementation of a vision document nisiet made on development of women entrepreneurs in Mauritius. I expect this work to result in several insights into the paradigm of women power.

Today, the nature of the problem is fast changing in rural areas and contemporary rural realities challenges our traditional stereotypical view of the situation. Income generating activities are shifting from the agricultural to agro based and from obsolete traditional technologies to modern tailor-made rural technologies. Many of the traditional employment opportunities have nearly disappeared and therefore, a fresh thinking is needed to proceed in this direction.

The Government is focusing on rural industrialisation through institutional support from many organisations. The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is endeavoring to fill this gap by identifying suitable technologies to support rural industrialisation. One of the biggest challenges in this regard is the viability and sustainability of rural enterprises. The major bottleneck in this effort comes from technologies that would be pitched towards bringing a change in the rural industrial environment. Generally, the following factors can be considered to have affected effective rural industrialisation:

    * Mismatch between the needs of the rural sector and the technologies that have been deployed;

    * Lack of effective marketing support;

    * Inappropriate infrastructure to provide support for the growth of such industries; and

    * Lack of S&T based interventions.

Therefore, any move to bring about effective changes has to take into account rural skills, rural resources and rural well-being, which hold the key to the success of rural industrialisation efforts. Improved working skills, better processing and manufacturing methods along with the introduction of low capital intensive enterprises can help the rural poor ameliorate their living conditions.

We have to realise that rural circumstances are changing and as a consequence, development thinking too is undergoing a welcome change. It is in this context that new approaches to rural industrialisation become important, if a very strong impact has to be created. The expansion of rural industries depends upon a number of factors like availability of raw materials and power, technical advice, organised marketing of produce, etc. Some of these issues are being addressed, but there still remains a gap in terms of an effective mechanism to identify suitable technologies for rural situations.

To effectively address these issues, KVIC has been working on various strategies. In one of its significant moves, the Commission has taken a decision to set up technology interfaces in few selected development institutions in the country and nisiet is one of them.

nisiet is eminently qualified to handle this job in view of its endowments and has the requisite expertise and experience in meeting this challenge of identifying suitable technologies and providing support in terms of training, research, and development. Its various centres of excellence can render effective information, counseling, and extension support.

The technology interface unit at nisiet will undertake the following steps to meet the expectations of KVIC:

    *      Based on the needs of village industries in a specific location, a needs analysis would be conducted;

    *      The results of the needs analysis from the data would help nisiet to recommend specific technology/ ies suited to the needs of particular area/s;

    *      The technologies presently being used would be examined from the point of their relevance, obsolescence, and efficacy to rural requirements through S&T based interventions; and

    *      Various technology generators would be tapped in identifying suitable technologies.

The steps taken by KVIC in involving development institutions to bridge the gap in this regard is going to have a salutary effect. This project spread over five years will be a challenge to nisiet in chartering its course in realising these objectives. With a credible track record and loads of experience tucked away, nisiet can don this role in taking up the gauntlet to not only handle this task effectively but also to develop a replicable model as it has done with many programmes conducted during the past few years.

The Government of India launched the concept of District Industries Centre (DIC) at grass-root level during 1978, with a view to promote district-wise industrial development in an integrated fashion linking Rural Industries Project (RIP), Rural Artisan Project (RAP) and Backward Area Development (BAD). The basic activities of DIC are two fold: the first one is to strengthen existing enterprises and identifying new enterprises based on the availability of raw materials and human resources, and the second is to make arrangements for providing necessary support to establish the enterprise through counselling, information sharing, training in production, management and extending other support for the benefit of small entrepreneurs. The activities also include clearance of licenses through single window system, implementation of PMRY and other employment generation schemes of state government, conducting motivation campaigns and rehabilitation of sick SSI units.

The WTO agreement is a catalyst of India’s wide ranging macro/micro economic policies in exports and domestic trades, introducing new industrial policy, de-regulation and reduction of monopolies of PSUs, encouragement for private investments and de-reservation of SSI and tiny sector industries coupled with increase in investment limits and so on. The liberalisation reforms have been in vogue for over a decade, for which the two committees’ reports of Dr. Abid Hussain and Mr. S.P. Gupta on SMEs have added a new dimension to the SSI development in the country. Even though, foreign exchange reserves and GDP have a considerable growth, the inflation and fiscal deficit and poverty clubbed with unemployment remained of serious concern.

In the present context of the economy, market oriented liberalisation will lead to higher output and increase the per capita income to a substantial level in India. Under these circumstances, the functionaries of the industrial development departments at grass root level (DICs) of State Governments need to play a significant role in the promotion and counselling of entrepreneurs in order to make them confident and acquire capabilities to face the challenges of competition, quality, productivity and efficiency. Therefore, there is dire need to re-orient the functionaries of the District Industries Centres in every State. Their functions need to match with industrial scenario, competition, planning for industrial development, development of micro enterprises sector, industry and environment in a globalised economy, programmes and institutional frame work, artisan enterprises, problem solving methods, cluster approach, use of information technology and vision to the future.

nisiet being a premier training institute has identified the above needs and developed the training modules to DIC personnel to meet the requirements of the respective State Governments’ priorities in SSI development. It is with this background, we at nisiet have developed training modules to effectively address these issues for promotion of SSI sector. Encouragement coupled with overwhelming response from the Commissioners of state industry, organising series of customised programmes for the benefit of DIC personnel have been scheduled during the current year. It is our hope that more states will draw nisiet’s services for this purpose.

A recent report by McKinsey & Co. Inc. indicates that by 2005, the value added in Food Industry will grow three folds to reach $ 60 billion, which is more than the entire manufacturing sector today. This growth of the FP sector will bring immense benefits to the economy - raising agricultural yields, enhancing productivity, creating employment, raising life standards of a large number of people across the country, especially in the rural areas as well as increasing the exports revenue. Thus the sector offers one of the largest opportunities in India. It is imperative that we actualise these favourable factors by tapping the resources - human, physical and fiscal. Government of India has rightly been giving major thrust and a special status of Sunrise Industry to this FP Sector. Liberalisation of economy and world trade have thrown open new opportunities for FP Sector and new vistas for growth.

The major obstacle to the development of FPI is developing of entrepreneurs to take up the challenges of the global competition.While the existing supply of entrepreneurs will always be there, the million-dollar question is " Will that be adequate? " The answer is a simple "No", if we go by the experience of the developing world in general and India in particular.It is possible and feasible to train the first generation of entrepreneurs in rural and urban areas, through a well thought out training intervention strategy known as Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP).nisiet was set up in 1960, with the mandate to play a vital role in the promotion of SMEs by creating a pro-business environment to foster their progress towards success and prosperity. nisiet helps practicing and potential entrepreneurs through a host of services like research, training, consultancy, information, education and extension. Over the past four and half decades nisiet has created an impressive record of achievements and has lived up to its reputation of providing unflinching support to the micro - small and medium enterprises on its path of growth. Prof. David McClelland's Kakinada experiment (1964), a pioneering study which led to development of the first entrepreneurship model was nisiet's corner stone. Since then nisiet has made many significant contributions towards enterprise promotion, both nationally and internationally. Its activities now extend beyond the Indian shores, making its presence felt in developing countries of almost all the continents.

nisiet with its vast expertise in creating entrepreneurs was entrusted with this onerous task of organising these EDPs country wide.

A formal approval was obtained from Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) for organising 102 EDPs in seven states whereas a firm sanction was given for 34 EDPS in two states of AP and Karnataka at the rate of one for each district.The entire project is being organised in four phases:

    * Conducting an Appreciation Workshop, where all stakeholders are assembled at one platform and get familiarised with the total project.

    * Organising Training of Trainers.

    * Actual conduction of EDPs by Implementing Agencies.

    * Handholding services to the entrepreneurs for one year.

nisiet has identified the Implementing Agencies and is entering into MoUs for actually conducting the EDPs. The EDP trainers will undergo a state of art trainers' training programme at nisiet campus, which will impart all the skills needed to motivate a trainee to become a successful entrepreneur.

WThese efforts on the part of nisiet are expected to culminate into the following results:

    * Creation of 2400 small and micro enterprises through 100 EDPs.

    * Creation of 12000 full time, regular jobs at a training cost of Rs.1000 / job.

    * Direct productive investment of Rs.60 crores with average of Rs.2.5 lakhs per unit.

    * Capacity building of around 30 implementing agencies.

    * Accelerating the overall productivity in farm sector and more efficient use of human and physical resources.

    * Inducing entrepreneurial culture in society.

    * Provide job opportunities in rural areas and thus avoid exodus of people to urban areas. More equitable distribution of income and wealth.

    * Utilisation of productive use of natural resources.

When we touch this very sensitive topic of women empowerment, we are not thinking of Kalpana Chawlas and Medha Patkars; they are the models, the ideals towards which we would like to direct our women force. When we talk of women empowerment, we think essentially of all those vast numbers of illiterate and semi-literate women in our slums and villages overtaken by hunger and poverty, not finding any means of livelihood within their range. The women who are under traditional bondage - child labour and bonded labour - need to be empowered socially and economically. Our subsequent governments have formulated policies and launched programmes to alleviate the miseries of such women. Many NGOs and institutions have been involved in their implementation, playing different roles.nisiet too has been playing a role in this maha yajna of women empowerment through its Women Studies Cell (WSC).nisiet, which has become self-sufficient for four years now, is now more vigorously participating in promoting women empowerment especially through promotion of income generation for sustainable livelihoods of exactly such hapless women suspended below the poverty line. The rich contribution of nisiet's WSC is mainly to create awareness through seminars, workshops and equipping with soft skills through training programmes to various target groups.

Apart from this, the WSC involves not only with activities concerned with enterprise promotion but also directs activities to other aspects of women and children which includes literacy and education, health and nutrition, rights and laws, crimes and violence in rural and urban areas. The cell published several manuals to train women in income generating activities.

Our activities in recent years have been expanded to empower women through enterprise creation in developing nations. One of the greatest achievements was the preparation of Vision Document for the promotion of women entrepreneurship in Mauritius. Subsequently, an Advanced Training programme was organised for the award winning women entrepreneurs of Mauritius.

nisiets' concern for social cause and commitment illustrates through our recently state level workshop on Status of Women held in July, sponsored by the National Commission for Women. nisiet perceives participating in such activities as its social responsibility and the Institute will continue to discharge this responsibility with the same devotion as it does its professional functions.

Through our WSC we shall continue to strive to smooth the path of empowerment for the sisters and mothers of our nation.

Looking back historically on the occasion of this Independence Day, nisietcan lay hand on its heart and declare that it has been true to its objectives down the years, striving without let or laxity to contribute its tiny drop to the mighty ocean of the nation's economic development, through its efforts for enterprise promotion at every level. During the last year the Institute has successfully initiated a few innovative projects: The initiatives towards SME development through cluster approach, promotion of food processing industries through EDPs, and research projects- to mention a few instances. The rehabilitation of rationalised employees of the CPSUs is growing in popularity as evidenced by the constantly increasing strength of participation in the programme. Starting our own educational programmes, is another achievement towards new projects. The post-graduate diploma and certificate programmes offered by the different centres of the Institute have been acclaimed as professionally enriching and are attracting a great deal of appreciative attention. The Institute has made its presence felt not only within India but outside the country too, in the developing countries of Asia and Africa.

The Institute's programmes and projects have been attracting officials in distinguished circles. Many persons of high distinction and esteem have visited the Institute and appreciated the facilities obtaining at the campus. His Excellency the hon'ble Governor of Andhra Pradesh Sri Surjit Singh Barnala; the hon'ble minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise, Government of India Sri Sontosh Mohan Dev; and the hon'ble minister for women rights, child development and family welfare, Government of Mauritius were among the leading personages who had graced the Institute campus on different occasions during the year. A number of senior ranking administrators at both central and state levels also had visited the Institute and expressed their appreciation of the campus facilities and the Institute's activities.

The history of the independence of any nation in the world would reveal that independence is not achieved in a day or two. It calls for far seeing vision, dedicated planning, committed execution of those plans and, above all, great sacrifices. In consonance with Bapuji's vision of a self-sufficient rural India, contributing to its realisation, nisiet has, during the four and half decades of its existence, made sincere and steadfast efforts to invigorate and strengthen the rural areas of the country by helping the rural populace to enhance their income levels. To concretise this endeavour, nisiet carried its accumulated wisdom and expertise to the rural people through its primary forte of training. The Institute has expanded its reach to the rural folk by way of imparting skills of tradecraft that would help earn/augment sustainable livelihoods. In the process it has also carried in its stride the cause of women empowerment. The very popular and successful approach of self-help groups has been adopted for this purpose.

The unique part of the Indian struggle emanated from the true spirit of non-violence, becoming an emulable model to the nations of the world. In its small way nisiet too will continue to strive to make its services to the SME development and to the promotion of rural self-employment exemplary and outstanding in the coming years.

I wish success in developmental endeavours to all stakeholders on the august occasion of our Independence Day.

An ancient tree is a biological universe, a social system in itself, holding a community in its fold. It is therepresentative of the forest for what is a forest but a congregation of trees and a conference of vegetation,feeding and sheltering in its intriguing vistas an entire range of biological systems from crawling insects to cruel predators, from anthills to antelope. Its beauty has inspired the poets, its bounty has given succour to whole generations of human communities — as long as humans lived in harmony with environment, loving it, caring it and protecting it.

Nature, the great scientist, has created all things in her ecological system in elegantly balanced proportions:the hills and deserts, the rivers and mountains, the oceans and forests, and the diverse life systems inhabiting them, surviving on their resources. Each organism in this complex system is in symbiotic relation with its surrounding inhabitants — helping, protecting, drawing, depending and procreating.But during the past hundred years, the onslaught of machine culture has intruded into this peaceful symphony with a menacing impact, wiping clean our consciousness of the debt to traditional heritage and responsibility to environment. The mad glee of each new scientific invention blinded the human race, world over, to the impending threats of danger to the legacy they would bequeath to the future generations. And now we are face-to-face with the stark consequences. Yet, all is not lost, it is late but not too late. There is time to redeem and to repair, with proper care and conscious effort.

Our country used to be famous for its fascinating and verdant rainforests, but today we have less than a third of what we had a century before, the rest having been gobbled up by development. Our ozone layer is ruptured for depletion. Our rich bio-diversity has been badly damaged, thousands of rare flora and fauna have been lost for ever. Our endangered species are facing the threat of extinction, sighted by greedy profiteers.Our air and water, the very life-givers, are poisoned to unsafe limits. The very life and health of our race – of our generation and the future ones – is at stake, open to attack by alien diseases. With foresight and planned approach we can protect and conserve at least what is remaining.Further slaughtering of forests and hills, corrupting the coastal rims must be prevented at all costs.

nisiet, with the tacit understanding of the age-old tradition of nature care and ecological outlook of ourland, and sensitive to the need of the hour, has designed a special programme on Forest Certification for the officers of the forest departments of 17 states. The week-long programme was sponsored by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (RT Division), Government of India, and was orientated as a workshop with emphasis on practical aspects by way of case study presentations, group exercises and study visits. The main effort of the programme has been to provide insights to the participating officers into dealing with forest land and resources of produce in a way that ensures the safety of the environment and associated bio systems therefore of the heritage to the future generations.

We can take anything from the forest, extract of its wealth freely as long as we take care not to destroy it,as long as we know how to procreate the forest by tradition, how to live in harmony with the forest, how to keep it intact as the tribals have been doing all along. That is the implicit message of this programme, and the explicit need of the times. So, let us join hands to protect the forest and environment in sustainable way and be protected by it.

In the Indian turf, the Government of India entrusted nisiet with this prestigious task of reviving the SMEs, owing to their inability to make a dent in the face of staggering competition due to globalisation. As a harbinger of the unique ideology formulated by UNIDO as well as a benchmark study in the areas of entrepreneurship and cluster development nisiet initiated development process in Rajasthan along with the state government. Rural India, which accounts for nearly three-fourths of India’s population, is characterised by low income levels which are inadequate to ensure a quality of life compatible with physical well being of common man.

nisiet, an independent entity spawned by the Ministry of SSI, Government of India. renders top-end services in the vital areas of education information to enrich and empower SMEs from the last four and half decades. The high impact, result oriented services of nisiet are targeted at both the domestic as well as the international SMEs, with special focus on enterprises thriving in the developing countries. The ultimate objective of the specialised nisiet services is to put the SMEs on the path of hyper-growth, promote self-employment and encourage enterprise development, the fact that nisiet was accorded the status of a centre of excellence is a testimony to its standards.

International experiences indicate that isolation rather than size and lack of effective linkages have affected the growth of the micro enterprises considerably. There is a need for support from relevant organisations and other institutions to network to accelerate meaningful development and progress in these hitherto under developed regions.

UNIDO undertook a programme to incorporate several policies in India as a gesture towards its commitment to the cause of modernisation of the small and medium enterprises. State Governments like, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Dr. Chukka Kondaiah Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh have adopted cluster development strategy within their framework.

Rajasthan, in particular with its endeavour to project herself as a tourist friendly destination is poised for sustainable tourism: through alleviation of poverty. It has embarked upon entrepreneurship and cluster development of its industries to augment prosperity and catapult foreign exchange by inclining to the foregoing measures. Rural development and rural entrepreneurship are the two sides of the same coin. There can be no rural development in the true sense of the term in India without active rural entrepreneurs. Micro-finance is a key ingredient to boost rural business and in this context, nisiet has decided to pursue a multi-pronged activity to facilitate rural entrepreneurship in the state of Rajasthan; by initiating training, consultancy and research to local institutions. Train NGOs for economic development, process innovation and harness technology to press development. How can rural income increase, except by leveraging the skills of the artisans and providing them the mechanism to sell their wares globally through the internet. Technology can be an important ally of the entrepreneurs and the government in their odyssey to transform the state. In many ways, Rajasthan is a proxy for rural India.

As part of our initiatives to promote entrepreneurship in the state of Rajasthan, it was observed that, the ruralities had traditional expertise handed to them down the generations and they also had the native wisdom. What they lacked is translating these skills for self development and entrepreneurship through the intelligent use of modern technology and information system. It is in this area that the micro enterprises require direction and support to make India a truly self reliant and powerful economy in the global scene. This enterprise is therefore, intended to acquaint them with the phenomenon of entrepreneurship: its requirements and benefits.

"Let enterprise create income for nation’s prosperity"

"Vriksho rakshati rakshitah" — The tree protects them who protect her — is the enunciation made by the ancient oracles of our land. How true they were! They were wise, sagacious, far seeing, foreseeing and prophetic.

An ancient tree is a biological universe, a social system in itself, holding a community in its fold. It is therepresentative of the forest for what is a forest but a congregation of trees and a conference of vegetation,feeding and sheltering in its intriguing vistas an entire range of biological systems from crawling insects to cruel predators, from anthills to antelope. Its beauty has inspired the poets, its bounty has given succour to whole generations of human communities — as long as humans lived in harmony with environment, loving it, caring it and protecting it.

Nature, the great scientist, has created all things in her ecological system in elegantly balanced proportions:the hills and deserts, the rivers