An emerging economy needs inclusivity in its programmes and schemes to empower each and every section of society. In India society, there remains much scope for initiating programmes to uplift vulnerable sections of society who lack vital social capital to move up the social and economic ladder. Very often minority communities, persons with disabilities and women face alienation due to social stigma. Despite several years of liberalization and economic progress, achieving equal access to resources and opportunities and the state of inclusive development remains an unaccomplished goal.

Favourable Social Perception:

• A Study conducted by Pratham for NITI Aayog suggests that, “about 70 per cent of respondents who come from semi-urban or rural areas aspire to become ‘self-employed’ entrepreneurs, in stark contrast to their urban counterparts (The Indian Express, 2016)”. The findings reiterate the fact that the country’s youth especially in the rural regions are gearing up for entrepreneurship to overcome poverty and unemployment.
• The largest annual study of entrepreneurial dynamics in the world, The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Report 2016-17 finds an increase in the rate of ‘entrepreneurial intention’ to 14.9 per cent compared to 9 per cent 2015-16, whereas the ‘fear of failure’ declined from 44 per cent in 2015-16 to 37.5 percent in 2016-17. The GEM Report 2016-17 finds that nearly 44 per cent of the adults in India see ‘good opportunities to start a business’ while 44 per cent perceive they have ‘capabilities to start a business’
• Post-1990 economic reforms in India have resulted in sporadic rise of Dalit entrepreneurs in the country but their representation in the country but their representation in the ownership of private enterprises and the employment generated by them has remained very low for the Scheduled caste communities.
• The Scheduled castes find it difficult to expand their enterprise due to lack of capacity to compete and also due to capacity to compete and also due to discrimination faced in the business arena.

Challenges and Opportunities:

• Lack of education and skills is a major impediment among the marginalized It results in lack of confidence to undertake responsibilities.
• Entrepreneurship motivation and Skill development with hands-on training can address these deficiencies.
• Workshops and seminar sessions have proved to be time-tested methods of attitude orientation and confidence building among youth.
• Through strategic planning approach comprising focussed entrepreneurial training, guidance and mentoring the Marginalised sections of the population can be geared towards self-employment opportunities.
• Shortage of finance, fear of risk and lack of functional literacy are some of the reasons that hold them back from starting their own enterprises.
• Further research findings in this field identify constraints in raw materials supply, lack of adequate capital, absence of marketing infrastructure etc, as some of the primary hindrances for a rural entrepreneur.
• Due to lack of education, rural entrepreneurs also suffer from lack of aptitude and competency and lack of awareness towards various facilities available to them. Hence they often keep themselves away from venturing into self-employment business and resort to working as daily wage labourers.

Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) has taken several laudable initiatives to empower the youth from the marginalised communities. In order to tackle the above challenges the following policy initiatives were taken by the government.

Start-up India Programme:

• As part of the start-up India action plan, the Government of India has set up a Fund of Funds for Start-ups (FFS) with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore to support these companies over the next four years.
• This money is stated to be disbursed via the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).
• A virtual Start-up India Hub was created to provide information and learning resources to aspirants. Although the initiative is appreciable, the impact is too less in a country like ours.

Stand-Up India Initiative:

• Under Stand up India Initiative, around 1.25 lakh bank branches are encouraged to fund SC/ST and women entrepreneurs to create around 2.5 lakh new entrepreneurs in the country.
• The idea is to facilitate bank loans from 10 lakhs to 100 lakhs to be given by each bank branch to one SC/ST and one Woman under Start-up India scheme to promote entrepreneurship among them.
• In fact this scheme was formulated to promote entrepreneurship at grass-roots for economic empowerment and job creation.

The Mudra Scheme (Pradhan Mantri’s Mudra Yojana, PMMY):

• The Micro Units Development and Re-finance Agency (MUDRA) is the executing financial body that fulfils the programme objectives under Stand-up India initiative.
• Mudra provides funding support to financial institutions that lend small loans to the micro-units in the country.
• The micro-loans have been categorized and named ‘Shishu’, ‘Kishor’ and ‘Tarun according to the phase of growth of according to the phase of growth of the firm and its corresponding funding needs.

Conclusion:

• It is fair to conclude that promoting entrepreneurship abilities among the marginalized and socially backward sections of our nation (especially those who fall under the intersection of the discriminatory forces lower –caste disabled women) can lead to multi-dimensional progress both on the social and economic fronts. It could be used as an effective affirmative action tool to counter the social malaise of discrimination.
• Regular entrepreneurship development interventions, periodic mentoring and guidance sessions and an integrated policy strategy to micro-enterprises development using the potential of micro fiancé and Self-Help Groups can turn the socially backward communities into competitive entrepreneurs who can drive the economic aspirations of our nation.
• Moreover, working to enhance livelihood skills and employment training with entrepreneurial motivation has the twin purpose of generating employment on the one hand and exploiting the untapped resources and opportunities on the other hand.