To promote entrepreneurship and provide self-employment avenues to youth, the Himachal Pradesh government has rolled out ‘Rajiv Gandhi Swarojgaar Yojana-2023’ (RGSY) with an outlay of Rs 10 crore.

Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said here on Friday that the recently-held state cabinet meeting has given its nod to the scheme, which will be instrumental in transforming Himachal Pradesh into a ‘Green Energy State’ and developing it as a model State for electric vehicles.

“Under this scheme, incentives, concessions, and facilities will be provided to eligible bonafide youth of Himachal Pradesh for purchasing e-taxis, e-buses, e-trucks, and installation of commercial solar power projects upto one MW,” he said.

The state government is working aggressively on creating electric vehicle ecosystems with all government vehicles transitioning to electric vehicles in a phased manner, said the Chief Minister.

With the introduction of RGSY, self-employment opportunities will be offered to local youth, while enabling the government departments to hire electric vehicle service providers, he added.

“Purchase of machinery and equipment for setting up dental clinics and projects based on fisheries and its processing has also been brought under the purview of this scheme in order to broaden the scope of RGSY,” said Sukhu.

“Provisions have been made for investment subsidy of 25 percent upto a maximum investment ceiling of Rs. 60 lakh in plant and machinery, 30 percent subsidy to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and 35 percent subsidy to all women-led enterprises and divyangjans,” he said.

For the purchase of these e-vehicles, the quantum of subsidy will be uniformly 50 percent, while for solar power projects upto one MW, it will be 40 percent for eligible categories, he added.

The chief minister said that the state government is not only working to create self-employment avenues in the private sector by providing subsidies to the local youth but also filling up various posts in the government sector.

He said that about 5300 posts of different categories of teachers have been created in the Elementary Education Department alone in the recently held Cabinet meeting and the recruitment process for filling up these posts will begin soon through Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission.

This was the testament of the State Government towards providing employment opportunities to the youth of the state, he added.