Deccan Herald
Mangalore / Karkala, Aug 19: The Canara Bank will look into the possibilities of tying up with reputed institutions in the country to market the artefacts produced at CEKIA, the centre for promotion of traditional arts, said Canara Bank chairman and managing director M B N Rao.
He was replying to a suggestion given by Administrative Reforms Commission chairperson M Veerappa Moily at the inauguration of new campus for Canara Bank sponsored C E Kamath Institute for Artisans at Miyar on Saturday.
Presiding over the programme, Rao said that the Bank would make all efforts to make the institute for artisans a model in the country.
Stating that the 14 institutes established under the aegis of Canara Bank Centenary Rural Development Trust to train the unemployed youth in various self employment initiatives, Rao said the initiative has resulted in training more than 58,000 youths with a settlement of 73 per cent. “The institute at Miyar in Karkala has sculpted 173 artisans ever since it was established in 1997, of which 150 artisans have gainfully employed,” he said.
Speaking after inaugurating the programme, Moily termed the institute as a “dreamer’s paradise.” Quoting T S Eliot, Moily said there is a shadow between idea and reality. “The nurturing of an idea of such an institute has become a reality today,” he said and called upon the artisans to have determination, discipline and dedication to achieve the goal.
Moily also distributed “Artisan Credit Card” symbolically to five artisans. The card entitles artisans to avail a loan of upto Rs 2 lac from the bank. Lauding the efforts of the Canara Bank, Medical Education Minister Dr V S Acharya hoped that the bank will be a role model for other banks. Earlier, he released “Carving Lives,” a souvenir of the institute.
Felicitation
On the occasion, five persons were felicitated. They included Shyamaraya Acharya (national award-winning sculptor), Basti Sadashiv Shenoy (sculptor and 1st batch student (1997)), Kumarachandra (new campus architect), Prabhakar Yeyyadi and Borkatte Ganapati Hegde (entrepreneur).