NT Reporter
Panaji
Nationalised banks provided more than Rs 468 crore in loans to various self-help groups in Goa, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Thursday. He said Goa has around 3,538 self-help groups comprising about 45,855 members.
“Around Rs 10.32 crore has been disbursed as revolving funds, Rs 29.87 crore as community investment funds and Rs 1.78 crore as viability gap funds. Most importantly, self-help groups have accessed more than Rs 468 crore through bank linkages,” said Sawant during the closing ceremony of the four-day Zonal Workshop on National Supportive Supervision Framework (NSSF) in Dona Paula.
Stating that for a small state like Goa, this would have been difficult to imagine in the past, he said, “Before 2014, many self-help groups would not have imagined receiving such significant loans. This was possible only because of guarantee associated with the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
National banks, the CM said, has the best practices and positive results could be seen emerging from this support today.
The four-day workshop was attended by delegates from Goa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Daman & Diu and Maharashtra. It was organised by the Ministry of Rural Development under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM).
Sawant said the state
government had launched the Swayampurna Goa campaign to take forward Modi’s vision for Atmanirbhar Bharat.
“The Rural Development Department has played an important role in giving further momentum to activities such as agriculture, horticulture, pisciculture, floriculture and dairy farming, particularly through women’s participation. The department has also worked effectively to promote both farm and non-farm activities,” said Sawant.
He said Goa currently has 18 cluster-level federations, of which two have been converted into Swavalambi Cluster-Level Federations.
“I am confident that these will become role models for the remaining cluster-level federations and self-help groups,” he said.
Stating that Goa though small compared to Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, is an important state, particularly from the tourism perspective. “Goa is also a 100 per cent literate state,” he said.
Stating that women constitute nearly 50 per cent of the country’s population, Sawant said, “We must make every possible effort to empower them through the respective departments and institutions.”
Through the four-day workshop, representatives from different States will have an opportunity to share their programmes and best practices.
“These best practices can be adapted by other States and used to strengthen self-help groups through cluster-level federations,” he said.
According to Sawant, the vision of Viksit Bharat is not only the responsibility of the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister. “It is possible only when all of us come together and contribute,” said Sawant.
