Giving its report card to the committee on Affirmative Action, chaired by principal secretary to the Prime Minister T K A Nair, the industry chambers gave a detailed account of the progress made.In a meeting of the committee held in May, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said it is “rapidly pursuing the targets set for it in the interim report”. It said that 588 of its member-companies had adopted the Code of Conduct drafted earlier. Additionally, member companies have covered 1,572 candidates for entrepreneurship development, 24,805 candidates have benefited from employability creation and 531 received scholarships for higher studies. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) claimed it is conducting 230 courses of three to six months duration from the ITIs adopted by it. It had submitted a proposal on promotion of industrialisation in districts with significant SC/ST population, on which the committee has taken a favorable view. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) informed the committee of the formation of a separate trust — Assocham foundation for inclusive growth of SC/ST — under which the chamber will be taking several steps to ensure inclusive growth. However, an unimpressed committee member-convenor and department of industrial policy and promotion secretary Ajay Shankar, stressed that the chambers need to take more responsibility and evolve schemes for employability and entrepreneurship development of the SC/ST youth. The committee is going to finalise its draft final report, to be submitted to the Coordination Committee, in its next meeting, the date for which it is still to notify.
