GOVT DISBURSES ₹ 140 CR IN INTEREST-FREE LOANS TO 14K WOMEN’S SELF-HELP GROUPS

CM Rupani confident that other states will also adopt scheme aimed at economic upliftment of women

Gandhinagar: Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Wednesday announced that the Gujarat government would disburse Rs140 crore in interest-free loans to 14,000 women’s self-help groups under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Utkarsh Yojana (MMUY), which was launched last year for the financial upliftment of women.

Rupani made the announcement in Vadodara on the occasion of ‘Nari Gaurav Divas’, organised as part of the nine-day celebrations commemorating the completion of his first five-year term.

The MMUY scheme was launched by the state government last September, with the aim of covering 10 lakh women (assuming 10 per self-help group) and giving them Rs1,000 crore in interest-free loans by the end of December 2022, Rupani said

“Today, we will be depositing Rs140 crore in the bank accounts of 14,000 women’s self-help groups that have over 1 lakh members.

This is a first-of-its-kind scheme in the country that provides collateral- and interest-free finance to women’s groups so that they can set up small businesses and contribute to their family’s income,” Rupani said.

Claiming that the MMUY is better than the micro-finance model promoted by Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh, Rupani exuded confidence that other states will also adopt the scheme for the economic upliftment of women.

The Gujarat government’s focus is to ensure that women lead in all sectors and perform better than men, he said. “The BJP has given equal rights and opportunities to women of the state.

A society can never progress without giving opportunities to its women. In Gujarat, 50% seats in panchayats and local bodies are reserved for women.

Of the total 1.5 lakh youth given government jobs recently, 33% were women,” Rupani said. The chief minister inaugurated 215 Anganwadi centres, two Sakhi one-stop centres and other buildings of state Women and Child Development department, and performed symbolic ground-breaking ceremonies for 112 Anganwadi centres, three one-stop centres and 28 other building blocks, it was stated