The Role of Small Scale Production in National Economy
There is an important role of small scale production in the economy of the country. We are still a developing country. Most of our population is living in the rural areas. They are doing handicraft work for their livelihood. There are few areas where there is a facility to get training about handicraft work. The Government is giving facilities of loan at low rate of interest to run small scale industries. These days’ maximum handiwork is being done with the help of machines, in which people are saving time and getting better production. Besides, the people in the villages are doing a number of jobs like spinning and weaving by running cottage industries. They are producing good quality of thread and cloth. They are also doing pottery, wood-work, metal-work, leather-work, basket making, crushing of sugarcane and numerous other handicraft works. In certain cases, people have succeeded in establishing the small as well as large scale of industries and they are earning a handsome amount out of it. Certain productions through small scale industries are very familiar and are even exported outside. There are many examples of cottage industries in India, which have proved successful in rural as well as urban areas. The farmers are doing the work in cottage industries side by side with their main occupation of agriculture. That is a good opportunity to them to work as part time and earn more. Some people in urban areas are also doing work in cottage industries as a part time employment. Their financial condition and purchasing power is better because of additional work that they are doing.
There is a requirement to enhance the quality and quantity of the production to get more income and give a positive impact to national economy. There is no doubt that many small scale industries are doing very well and that is significantly affecting our economy. If we want to boost Indian economy more, there will be a requirement of latest machines and new technology for running small scale industries. As part of improvement in the production, it will help to create more employment opportunities for the youth looking for the jobs.
The cottage industries are to be encouraged. There is a requirement to bring numerous improvements in this direction. There is a requirement of assistance from government. The States and Central Government need to be liberal administratively and financially, so that owners of the industries feel easy to produce better quality and they can be able to compete with the mill-made goods. There are many highly skilled people, but they cannot come up as they are poor. There are financial difficulties, which are hurdles for their progress. They cannot set up small scale industries. Such people should be helped, so that they can show better output in manufacturing the special and attractive things. Such things should be introduced in the global market for earning foreign exchange. The co-operative societies can play a significant role in this direction by giving adequate financial assistance to them. There is a direct effect of small scale production on Indian economy being at large scale both in the rural and the urban areas. There is a requirement to deal with all the matters related to small scale industries vigorously.
The Indian Government has been giving weightage to small scale production right from first five-year plans till to day. They knew that India can score expected progress only when small scale industries are encouraged and modernised alongwith large scale industries. The government has announced numerous facilities and assistance to small scale industries for better performance. This is the age of competition within the country as well as at global level. We need to give new look to small scale industries, so that we can compete with the domestic as well as global market. How Japan and China have progressed. Their economy is sound. They stressed to adopt small scale production by producing world class goods and they succeeded in their aim. We should take example of their planning and success. India has tremendous natural resources. India itself is a big consumers market. We can do better than any other country and give- a turn to our economy. If we look at the market, we find that we are using the goods for foreign countries, which is the outcome of their small scale industries. We are using a torch cell of Japan and nail cutter made in China even today after 60 years of our independence and at that stage when India is emerging as global power. The very reason is that we are not competitive with these countries in respect of goods through small scale industries. There is an urgent need to characterise our goods for enabling us to outstrip the goods of other countries, which are being pushed for sale in Indian market. We should be very specific in quality control rates and guarantee for all the items manufactured in the small scale industries for competing with foreign goods. It will help in increasing the percentage of export which will enable us to get appropriate foreign exchange. That will be the best way of boosting Indian economy.
There is no doubt that the large scale industries and factories are equally important at present for India, when it is already in the race of achieving the standard of the world class. The progress in parallel through small scale industries will make it more potential and India will be able to accelerate global competition and achieve the goal of 21st century.
India has yet to do a lot in this direction. If we want India to rise as a world power in the field of trade, commerce and economy, we have to give the importance to small scale production within the country. It will also help India in getting more foreign exchange, which is very important for global business by establishing itself as a strong competitor in the world market.
