Bhubaneswar: In a bid to further empower the Mission Shakti program in Odisha, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today announced that loans up to Rs 5 lakh will be provided to them without interest (zero interest). This new loan system will be implemented from April 2022. Earlier, loans up to Rs 3 lakh were disbursed without interest.
Describing this as a revolutionary step, the Chief Minister said that through this the Mission Shakti women members can establish themselves as SME or Small and Medium Enterprises from SHG and can take bigger loans to start big business.
The Chief Minister said that women are an important part in the transformation of Odisha. He said that today’s decision will play a major role in empowering them and promoting the local economy.
Stating that the goal of the state government is to make Mission Shakti members small and medium entrepreneurs, the Chief Minister said that a program has been adopted to provide loans of about Rs 50 thousand crore to Mission Shakti groups in the next 5 years.
He hoped that the mothers of Mission Shakti would be able to establish themselves as successful entrepreneurs.
“According to our promise, the State government has provided Rs 4000 crore business to Mission Shakti Maa in the last 3 years,” the Chief Minister said. “In addition, over 17 thousand crore rupees have been provided to Mission Shakti SHGs in the last 5 years.”
Describing Mission Shakti as an innovative initiative towards women empowerment, the Chief Minister said that it has brought together 70 lakh women of the state through 6 lakh Self Help Groups.
To take the movement further, his government has set up a special Mission Shakti Department and all SHG programs are being implemented through this department, he said.
On June 1, 2020, Mission Shakti Department was established and all the SGH programs of the state were brought under one department.
