Ahead of assembly elections in Karnataka, which is a home state India's startups' capital Bangalore, the startups now becomes part of election manifestos of political parties when Bharatiya Janata Party unveiled its election manifesto on Friday.

According to the manifesto, BJP plans to give entrepreneurship a boost by setting up incubators called ‘K Hubs’ across Karnataka.

BJP promised that, if comes to power, it will develop 6 “K-Hubs” as the biggest incubators and co-working spaces for startups in India at Hubballi, Bengaluru, Raichur, Mysuru, Kalaburagi and Mangaluru.

Listed under initiatives for a better future of the youth of the state, K Hubs -- according to BJP manifesto -- will be the biggest incubators and co-working spaces for startups in India.

Interestingly, K-Hub sounds very similar to Hyderabad's T-Hub, which is currently the largest startup incubator in the country, something Telangana IT Minister KT Rama Rao also pointed out on Twitter on Friday.

Apart from K-Hub, BJP also plans to launch a Venture Capital Fund. “Launch a Sir M Visvesvaraya Venture Capital Fund to support innovative business ideas and nurture spirit of entrepreneurs among state youth,” states the BJP manifesto.

Related Reading - No Progress in StartUp India Initiative As DIPP Utilized Only 0.4% of Allocated ₹10 Crore for Promotion

Prime Minister Modi-led party also plans to launch a policy to promote and encourage women entrepreneurship in the state and set up a ₹50 crore handloom entrepreneurs fund to help sell handloom products directly on online platforms.

The party also plans to establish 15 “MSME Development Centres” to serve as (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) MSME incubators and provide a platform for them to become technology-based entrepreneurs. However, it is to be noted that just few days back, MSMEs in the state of Madhya Pradesh, where BJP is in power for close to 12 years, have raised complain that they are not treated equally when it comes to availing the single window clearance facility.

Additionally, in order to support the SC community, BJP will designate ₹500 crore under the ‘Dr Bhimarao Ramji Ambedkar entrepreneurship scheme’ to organize entrepreneur development and incubation programs for SC entrepreneurs. Notably, the party is in power in 21 other states of the country.

It is to be noted however that for last 4 years, the Narendra Modi government in centre has struggled to improve the Centre’s track record of procuring goods and services from Dalit and Adivasi entrepreneurs.

According to sources, government departments and central public sector undertakings (PSUs) have procured just 0.37% of their requirement of goods and services from Scheduled caste (SC) and Scheduled tribe (ST) suppliers as at the end of March 2017, against the stipulated annual quota of 4%.

Coming back to the election manifesto, BJP promise to provide free laptops to every student who enrolls in a college. The party however didn't disclose any plan for education policy in state.

Via - The News Minute

[Top Image - Reuters India]
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