Govt to soon implement Drone Didi concept
Panaji : Women-centric empowerment programmes under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission, (DAY- NRLM) of the Centre have resulted in 3,250 self-help groups (SHGs) being formed in the state, of which 1,120 SHGs are credit linked and have taken Rs 340 crore loans from banks for business, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Tuesday.
Sawant, who inaugurated a two-day state level bankers’ conclave organised by the Goa State Rural Livelihood Mission (GSRLM), said, “If all the SHGs were credit-linked, the loans extended by banks to them would have easily crossed Rs 900 crore,” Sawant said, adding that that Rs 340 crore bank loans have been taken over a period of six years.
He said bankers have the most important role to play in the NRLM project as they deal directly with the SHG women members. Sawant lauded the women in SHGs for independently undertaking livelihood enabling activities and with honesty.
“The Rs 340 crore loans taken by them are significant…”
“It is their own decision without collateral security and without approaching a government servant or their husbands for approval. The loans given to the SHGs are almost 99 per cent recoverable. Women give good recovery in bank loans vis-a-vis men. No SHG woman has ever approached me until now for one-time-settlement (OTS),” Sawant said.
He urged bankers to assist SHG members in online loan applications, availing digital financial services and on-boarding the women in bank linkage portal.
“Around 170 SHGs in the state are empanelled for different government schemes like running canteens, providing mid-day meals, etc. The Lakhpati Didi concept in Goa, wherein women enterprise owners who cross Rs 1 lakh in profit are identified as lakhpatis, is making progress. The government will soon implement the Drone Didi concept for SHGs to purchase drone used in agriculture,” said Sawant.
He added that, thanks to women participating in floriculture and horticulture the state’s imports of vegetables is down by 25 per cent and 10 per cent increase in exports of vegetables by the Goa State Horticulture Corporation to other states.
The bankers’ conclave aimed at SHG bank linkages and enterprise financing under the DAY-NRLM project of the ministry of rural development.
Earlier, the national resource person for NRLM Tilak Das urged the bankers to move out of their offices and visit villages to understand the working of the SHGs.
He said the NRLM project is more or less present in every state with some states lagging in implementation.
