(GIST OF KURUKSHETRA) PM Vishwakarma & Cooperatives MSMEs

(MAY-2025)

PM Vishwakarma & Cooperatives MSMEs

Context:

Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSMEs) and cooperatives are two impactful pillars of Indian economy, especially in rural and semi-urban areas having huge potential for inclusive and sustainable development. Cooperatives and MSMEs work with smaller number of members, entrepreneurs and employees and aim towards promoting self-reliance, generating employment and ensuring bottom-up development by engaging community in the whole growth processes.

Cooperatives: The Community MSMEs

Co-operatives are self-supporting community business associations which are expected to realize social, economic and political objectives ranging from self-help and grass-root participation to production, distribution and social control over resource allocation and mobilization.
Co-operatives have a distinctive identity of their own and are based on the principle of co-operative values and principles.
Co-operation assumes the interaction between the economic a socio-cultural and political power in a specified regj0ri International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) statement of cooperative identity includes the definition of Co operatives.

Background:

PM Vishwakarma Scheme Launched by the Prime Minister on 17th September 2023, PM Vishwakarma Scheme was a tribute to the skilled hands requiring timely and adequate support services to revive the foundation of India— the Vishwakarmas of India.
The identified and prioritized Vishwakarmas viz. carpenters blacksmiths, goldsmiths, masons, potters, barbers tailors, cobblers, sculptors, and many more represented not just a profession but carried a proud heritage tag of craftsmanship passed down through generations. Through this new programme country wanted to empower the eligible Vishakarmas by honouring their legacy.
The PM Vishwakarma Scheme aims to provide comprehensive support to traditional artisans and craftspeople across India. The scheme focuses on skill upgradation, financial support, and market access to enhance the livelihoods of artisans.
Artists and craftspeople who use their hands and tools make up a sizable component of the Indian labour force. These people usually work for themselves and are classified as informal or unorganized sector of the economy. A guru-shishya (mentor-disciple) style of traditional training is used to pass on their skills through the generations, both inside families and through various unofficial groupings of craftspeople and artisans.

Cooperatives & PM Vishwakarma

There are ample opportunities for cooperatives to take benefits under the PM Vishwakarma scheme of MSME Ministry. Within the current operational framework, the PM Vishwakarma initiative seeks to improve the calibre and accessibility of the goods and services provided by these craftsmen, incorporating them into both value chains.
The goal of the Scheme is to give the Vishwakarmas complete, end-to-end support so they can progress in their individual trades. By significantly altering the way these traditional jobs are performed, this Scheme hopes to raise the standard of living of these artists and craftspeople.

Cooperatives Societies by Artisans

Artisans trained under PM Vishwakarma Scheme can form a cooperative society at the district level, including members specializing in different artistic trades, fostering a diverse and collaborative environment.
Through this collaboration, artisans from different sectors can combine their unique skills to create diversified and high-quality products, facilitating business expansion and enabling the cooperative to cater to a broader market and meet diverse customer demands.
By utilizing the credit support provided by PM Vishwakarma Scheme, artisans can collectively invest in resources, infrastructure, and marketing, reducing individual financial burdens and maximizing returns.
The cooperative will provide a platform for sharing tools, machinery, and workspace, optimizing the use of resources and enhancing productivity while reducing operational costs for individual artisans.

Conclusion

The cooperative MSMEs can well-contribute in realizing the dream of developed India 2047 keeping in view their spread, outreach and coverage and the employment generation and wealth creation potential. To create an all-inclusive resilient, and innovation-driven economy, to transform India into a global manufacturing and service hub, it is the community driven business institutions like cooperative MSMEs which will ensure that none is left behind, especially at the grassroots. Within the overall architecture of MSME and within the overall innovative framework of PM Vishwakarma initiative, cooperatives are all-set to become profitable MSMES and to bolster the required industrialization.