Coir Vikas Yojana (CVY)

Coir Vikas Yojana (CVY) is a scheme initiated by Coir Board that functions under the Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME). It has been rolled out with the goal of facilitating the development of export as well as domestic markets. Coir Vikas Yojana also aims at providing effective training and skill development, entrepreneurship/employment creation and development, trade-related services, improved raw material usage, welfare activities related to coir workers, and empowerment of women.

Need for Coir Vikas Yojana

The Indian coir industry is clouded by decentralised operations and unorganised processes. Lacking appropriate training and structured functioning, this industry faces problems in achieving the expected level of quality of the ultimate products. Substandard quality and workers’ involvement in production activities without sufficient training proves detrimental to the industry’s survival. Coir being a traditional product, there is space for skill development that is crucial for the industry’s overall development. Training and upskilling become imperative for proliferating the coir industry into the untested, non-traditional areas. It was realized that a large number of trainers were required for training artisans at field level for developing the production base. Recognising the need for adequate training of supervisory/managerial instructors/trainers, and expert artisans in sufficient numbers, it was proposed to initiate a 3-tier training system.

Components of the Coir Vikas Yojana

The Coir Vikas Yojana Scheme, earlier referred to as Coir Plan (General) Scheme, consists of the following six major components:

1. Domestic Market Promotion(DMP)
2. Export Market Promotion (EMP)
3. Skill Upgradation and Mahila Coir Yojana (MCY)
4. Welfare Measure (Group Personal Accident Insurance Scheme)
5. Development of Production Infrastructure (DPI)
6. Trade and Industry Related Functional Support Services (TIRFSS)

Primary Objectives of Coir Vikas Yojana

The following are the major objectives of the Coir Vikas Yojana scheme:

• To facilitate better utilisation of the existing raw materials.
• To assist in establishing new, innovative coir processing units.
• To help existing coir units to update.
• To ensure that women are provided better opportunities for employment - with emphasis on those living in rural areas.
• To assist creating products that offer high value to users.
• To help the industry to enter potential areas.
• To help in the adoption of eco-friendly techniques.
• To help attract new generation businesses and entrepreneurs into the coir industry.
• To help improve productivity and quality through modernisation of the production units’ infrastructure facilities.
• To empower the coir industry to become more competitive by leveraging innovative technology.
• To help the coir industry to become pollution-free by making use of relevant technology.
• To bolster the industry by promoting the use of Information Technology.

Scheme Highlights

The programme offers a lot of benefits under various schemes:

• Provision of equipments for coir spinning, coir-spinning ratts, machinery, materials, and other necessities with 75% subsidy under the scheme of Mahila Coir Yojana.
• Imparting quality consciousness at grass root level among the workers and educating them about appropriate production methods related to standard quality yarn, fibre, and other products.
• Creating awareness among entrepreneurs, coconut growers, and other stakeholders for setting up coir-based production units and modernising existing production units to achieve better quality, productivity, and improved earnings.

The Coir Vikas Yojana scheme includes two distinct components, namely, Mahila Coir Yojana and Skill Upgradation. Training is the primary objective of the scheme, but it was noted that the distribution of ratts was far below the set targets. The reason for this was that most people opted other lucrative jobs and jobs that were not seasonal. Those who were able to produce limited output have been enabled to increase their production after motorized ratts were introduced.

Implementation of the Scheme

In order to train skilled workers as required by the present industry in both traditional and non-traditional areas related to coconut cultivation, ‘Skill Upgradation’ programme was formulated.

• The coir board takes responsibility of inculcating training associated with coir processing to workers and artisans who are engaged in the coir industry.
• Training will be provided through the training centres such as the National Coir Training and Design Centre (NCT&DC), Kalavoor, Alleppey, the Research-cum-extension centre, Thanjavur, and the Regional Training Centres of Regional/sub-regional offices of the coir board that have been located in several places in the nation.
• The coir board conducts training sessions at various field training centres according to the coir workers’ convenience. Field training centres run with help from Co-operative societies, NGOs, Associations & SFURTI SPVs/clusters that are engaged in activities related to coir.

Mahila Coir Yojana

The coir industry is export-oriented and labour-intensive, with over 7 lakh workers. Roughly 80% of these workers are women. Ridden with lack of training and being an unorganized sector, this industry has been facing issues related to production and quality. Inferior quality products proved detrimental to the coordinated efforts to achieve overall progress of the industry and its survival. Skill development became the crucial factor to enable the industry to spread into the non-traditional zone and to accomplish overall development. Mahila Coir Yojana (MCY), the first women-focused self-employment programme, was initiated by the Coir Board in 1994. It aimed at providing 75% subsidy on the cost of machineries and ratts for trained and skilled woman artisans. Training and quality enhancement programmes such as MCY have been undertaken since then. During the training period, woman artisans are paid a stipend of Rs.1,000/- per month as well.

Skill Upgradation

Under the Coir Vikas Yojana scheme, programmes such as awareness programmes, entrepreneurship development programmes, exposure tours, seminars, and workshops are being implemented with a view to attract entrepreneurs to participate in coir processing. Training programmes are conducted for instilling the necessary skill sets among the workers for creating value-added products. The stipend is provided to candidates who participate in training programmes.

Entrepreneur Development Program

• Entrepreneur development programmes are conducted by regional or sub-regional officers of the board in accordance with targeted programmes. The officer selects a professional agency that has the required expertise to conduct the programme.
• The selected agency invites the prospective entrepreneurs via regional press advertisement. Preparing the required study materials and outsourcing faculty to conduct sessions will be done by the agency in consultation with the regional/sub-regional officers.
• Entrepreneurship development programme’s duration is 3 days. It covers various topics under different sessions.
• Field visit to coir processing units in the vicinity will be organised at the programme’s end.

An average 6% increase is being witnessed annually in the global market for coir products. Providing appropriate training and insurance coverage to workers and artisans in the coir industry, Coir Vikas Yojana proves to be beneficial for both the workers as well as the industry on the whole.