Navsari: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the PM SVANidhi scheme was shaped by his understanding of the difficulties faced by street vendors and small cart and stall owners, recalling the financial pressures they faced when they depended on informal lenders for working capital.
Addressing a public meeting in Navsari district, PM Modi said he was often asked how such schemes were conceived, and attributed his understanding of the issue to having “lived” and “seen” the lives of people at the grassroots.
“Many times, when I discuss such schemes in the Central government, everyone is initially surprised and asks, ‘Sir, where did you come up with such a scheme?’ I tell them, ‘I don’t have to use my brains for this. I have lived that life. I have known that life. I have seen that life’,” he said.
PM Modi described the daily financial cycle faced by street vendors who needed money to purchase stock.
He said some vendors would borrow Rs 1,000 in the morning, use it to purchase goods from the wholesale market, spend the day selling them and return to the lender in the evening.
He said the lender might have given them only Rs 900 while demanding repayment of Rs 1,000, leaving vendors trapped in a cycle of borrowing.
“Under the burden of such debt, my brothers and sisters who run carts and small stalls were crushed. Not even a single rupee was left. They could barely put together enough for a meal,” PM Modi said.
He said the government had instead sought to provide access to institutional credit without requiring guarantees, alongside bank accounts and digital payment facilities.
“We decided. Do not doubt their honesty. Without any guarantee, we arranged for them to open bank accounts and receive money from banks, and we also arranged digital payments,” he said.
PM Modi said vendors who repaid their initial loans on time could become eligible for larger amounts.
“Today, there are lakhs of street vendors and cart and stall owners who, when they first received a loan of Rs 15,000, repaid it properly and on time, and then received Rs 30,000 and Rs 50,000,” he said.
He described this as a progression that could help some families move from informal vending to more stable businesses.
“Earlier, they would bring goods every day; now they have started stocking goods for a week,” he said.
PM Modi also said the benefits could extend to other members of a family and argued that even seemingly small schemes could make a substantial difference to low-income households.
“The schemes may appear small, but those who understand the joys and sorrows of society know how powerful a scheme can be in the life of a person in distress,” he said.
He used the example of a labourer working outdoors in the summer to underline the importance of understanding people’s circumstances.
“A person sitting in an air-conditioned room does not understand the value of a glass of water. But if someone is working as a labourer in the heat of summer and is out on the road, and somebody gives him a glass of water, he feels as if he has received the nectar of life,” PM Modi said.
He urged BJP workers in Navsari to ensure that no eligible street vendor was left outside the scheme.
“If the brothers and sisters of my Navsari district and my workers decide that there should not be a single street vendor or cart and stall owner who remains excluded from this scheme, then we will ensure that,” he noted.
(IANS)
