Odisha Govt Plans State-Level Federation For Women SHGs

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government will form a state-level SHG federation to further facilitate the women in becoming economically self-reliant.

This was stated by Sujata Kartikeyan, secretary, Mission Shakti at press meet after the performance review of the department by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday. Stating that the state government has paid Rs 11,000 crore to members of the Mission Shakti in the last 8 years, she said each group is paid a loan of Rs 5 lakh free of interest.

On SHG federation, she said SHG organisations are already function at the district level. Now, the government wants to set up a state-level body to strengthen the mission. A special fund in the line of CMRF will be set up to extend financial help to the families of Mission Shakti members, she added.

Stating that Odisha’s Mission Shakti initiatives have drawn appreciation of the Centre, she said the state government has been stressing on helping the women through loans, Mission Cafe, farm techniques and strong organisation.

Mission Shakti Minister Basanti Hembram said the women SHGs are now associated with 20 departments of the government. Their achievements in paddy farming, pisciculture, managing Mission Shakti Cafe, farm product clusters and other fields have been highly appreciated.

Stating that the contributions of the SHGs during COVID pandemic have been significant. They not only provided 2 crore meals to the migrant works who returned from Surat and other places, but also produced 75 lakh face masks for the use of people, she said.