Bhubaneswar: Announcing plans to restructure Mission Shakti in the state, the Odisha government on Monday said steps would be taken to connect every household with women self-help groups (SHGs).
Sharing this information, Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida said it was not possible to properly conduct audit as the SHGs were functioning without registration with the government.
Though the Centre had asked to link each household with the SHGs, the previous government did not pay heed to it, depriving many families and excluding a few SHGs from the Mission Shakti programme, she claimed.
In order make the benefits of the scheme to all, the Mission Shakti department has launched an initiative to connect all households with the SHGs, she daid.
As per the nodified guidelines of Mission Shakti, all SHGs will have an opportunity to take part in Gram Panchayat level elections. Fresh appointments will be made by replacing present presidents and secretaries in SHGs to create leadership at grassroots level, the Deputy CM said.
Stating that SHGs will be revamped this month, Parida said new appointments will be made at Gram Panchayat Level Federations (GPLF), Cluster Level Federations (CLF) and Block level Federations (BLF) as well as state level in May.
Those in senior posts twice for more than four years will be changed as the previous government had used them for political purposes to get votes, Parida alleged.
As the SHGs were functioning without registration, there was no audit to ascertain the utilisation of funds.
Hitting out at the state government over this move, senior BJD leader Pramila Mallick claimed that the decision to restructure Mission Shakti is aimed at making political gains for BJP.
She alleged that the BJP government wants to use women for political purpose and insult those who became Lakhpati Didi due to their hard work.
Stating that the previous BJD regime had created SHGs, she said BJP is trying to take advantage of the BJD work. However, women have realised that they are being exploited by the BJP government, she added.
