Guwahati, Oct 18 : The Assam government is committed to opening a new era of entrepreneurship in the state, said Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday.

Sarma launched the second version of Chief Minister's Atmanirbhar Asom Abhijan (CMAAA) at a function held at Lok Sewa Bhawan here today taking a leap towards creating an enabling atmosphere for entrepreneurship supporting the entrepreneurs of the state.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that under CMAAA 2.0, the selected beneficiaries will receive Rs 5 lakh for the professional course category and Rs 2 lakh for the non-professional course category in two trenches as entrepreneurship incentives.

'Applicants possessing a four-year degree in the field of engineering, medicine, agriculture, veterinary, and fishery will be treated as professional course category applicants. whereas, all other applicants (except professional category) will be treated as non-professional course category,' he added.

Sarma further said that the interested and eligible applicants will have to register themselves in the CMAAA portal and subsequently submit the detailed project report during the application phase. The portal will remain open till 18 November for registration.

He, however, said that in the five districts where bye-elections have been declared, applicants will get a chance to register for CMAAA 2.0 once the election model code of conduct comes to an end.

Sarma also said that taking experience from CMAAA 1.0, the eligibility age for the applicants has been raised to 45 years which was earlier 40 years. He also said that the applicants must have skill/experience and knowledge to perform income-generating activity and they must have a scheduled commercial bank account opened before 1st April 2024.

He mentioned that to be eligible for CMAAA 2.0, the applicants should not be a defaulter in loan repayment taken from any scheduled commercial bank and the applicants' household member spouse or sibling must not be a beneficiary of CMAAA 1.0.

The Chief Minister stated that the spirit of Atmanirbhar Asom Abhijan is to empower the youth of the state and inculcate in them entrepreneurial skills.

'Through this program, efforts will be made to make the beneficiaries eligible and competent for Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, a flagship scheme of the Central government which facilitates micro-credit and loans up to Rs 10 lakh to income generating micro-enterprises,' he added.

In the first instalment of the state government's flagship scheme, Atmanirbhar Asom Abhijan, Chief Minister Sarma distributed Rs. 510 crores to 25,238 budding entrepreneurs across the state. Now, in the second chapter, 75,000 beneficiaries will be selected.

/IANS