Bhubaneswar: The 5th Steering Committee meeting of Odisha Livelihood Mission (OLM) was held today under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Anu Garg at Lok Seva Bhavan.Garg emphasized on increasing income of rural families and further strengthening financial empowerment of women through successful implementation of livelihood programmes. She advised to continue efforts for more effective and efficient implementation, application of new ideas and continuous improvement.
She stressed on making continuous efforts so that maximum self-help groups can perform well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and encouraging other groups by taking successful SHG SMEs as examples. The Chief Secretary directed to prioritize livelihood programmes in areas where Gramodaya and PM-Janman programmes are being implemented and to ensure success of each step. She also advised regular monitoring of implementation of all livelihood programmes.
At the beginning of the meeting, implementation of decisions taken in the 4th Steering Committee meeting held on September 10, 2025 was discussed. The Steering Committee was also apprised about the 6th Executive Committee meeting. The meeting also discussed registration of Gram Panchayat Level Society (GPLSS).State Mission Director and CEO, Mission Shakti Department Dr Monika Priyadarshini presented various programmes of OLM. Inclusion of SHG families under OLM, progress of formation of cluster-level and gram panchayat-level forums, provision of revolving funds to SHGs, bank linkage targets and loan provision were reviewed.
It was highlighted that more than 1 lakh (84%) members are engaged in farm livelihood activities, while more than 2 lakh members are engaged in service livelihood activities and 2.3 lakh are engaged in non-farm activities.
SHGs are getting higher loan support than before. The average loan amount was Rs 4 lakh in 2024, which has increased to Rs 5.96 lakh in 2026. As many as 5.95 lakh SHGs have been provided loan support worth Rs 75,116 crore through SHG-bank linkages. This is helping them in expanding livelihood activities, developing industries and financial empowerment. Around 1.70 lakh entrepreneurs have been provided financial support worth Rs 7,997 crore.
The meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department Usha Padhee, Commissioner of Urban Development Deoranjan Kumar Singh, Commissioners and Secretaries of Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water, Handlooms, Textiles and Handicrafts and Mission Shakti departments, Director of Integrated Child Development and Social Welfare and senior officers of concerned departments.
