Bhubaneswar: Women in Odisha now not only became self-reliant, they also lead their families by taking major decisions within the family, which we can say is the real empowerment of women.
All this happened only due to the sincere and continued efforts made by Mission Shakti Secretary Sujata R. Karthikeyan, who has been working for the women, especially those who belong to poor and marginalized families.
Usually, India and our state is considered male dominated society. But, now the women are very actively participating in decision making within and outside their families.
As per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) report, in 90.2 per cent families in Odisha, married women are participating in taking household decisions against the national average of 88,7 per cent.
In Rural areas the percentage stood at 90.3 per cent while in urban areas, it was 89.9 per cent.
In the previous survey (NFHS-4), women in 81.1 percent families were taking part in making such family decisions. Within just four years, the figure jumped by 9 per cent. This shows the real empowerment or golden period for women started in Odisha.
From bringing the women from four walls of their houses to making them financially self-reliant and now converting them as small entrepreneurs, all efforts made by Sujata, a senior IAS officer from the soil, said a senior woman entrepreneur supported by Mission Shakti.
Due to her strong determination and devotion, Odisha’s Mission Shakti has transformed today into a massive social movement and 7 million women organised into 6 lakh Self Help Groups (SHGs) joined in the movement.
To make women empowerment a reality in the State, Sujata has always stood tall behind the 70 lakh women and ensured them all kinds of assistance to realise their dreams.
From providing interest-free loans, to issuing work orders in government businesses, Mission Shakti Scootter Scheme and many more, the Secretary has ensured all support for the Mission Shakti Groups.
Besides, to give more focus to the women SHGs, a separate Mission Shakti Department has been formed on 1st June 2021, which shows how serious the State Government is for the empowerment of the SHGs.
The Interest Subvention target of Rs 300 crore has been crossed and Rs 587 crore has been provided.
As promised, for providing loans to SHGs @ 0% interest up to Rs. 5 Lakh, the Government has reimbursed Rs.587 crore to the SHGs towards Interest Subvention in the last 4 years.
And, for the first time in history, credit flow to SHGs has crossed Rs 11,000 crore in 2022-23 – a quantum leap over a period of 8 years. The average loan size has also seen a big jump from Rs 1.06 lakh in 2016-17 to Rs 3.01 lakh now.
This quantum jump was boosted by the State Government’s decision to provide zero-interest loans upto Rs 5 lakh. In the past four years, Rs 587 crores has been reimbursed directly to bank accounts of more than 4 lakh SHGs with Rs 216 crore in the last year alone.
Unparalleled reduction has been recorded in NPA of SHG loans from 14.2% to 1.99% in the last six years. This is one of the lowest in the country.
For the first time, 1103 GPs in Odisha are NPA Free – a fact also praised by the Government of India.
Similarly, Odisha also recorded an impressive rise in the usage of Bank Accounts by women. About 86.5% women in Odisha have a Bank or Savings account that they themselves use.
Previously, the NFHS – 4 of 2015-16 had shown 56.2% women in Odisha had Bank/Savings accounts that they use themselves. To reach the unreached, Mission Shakti has placed more than 2318 SHG members as BCAs in unbanked GPs across Odisha having a business of Rs 1159 crore during last year with earnings of Rs 3.68 crore.
Powered by the Cabinet decision to provision Government goods and services worth Rs. 5000 crores from SHGs, Rs 4949.14 crore worth of Government business has already been facilitated in convergence with 20 Government Departments.
Convergence guidelines have been prepared to incentivize the role of SHG in different schemes. This has created opportunities for more than 1 lakh SHGs and enhanced their economic standing by generating a cumulative income of Rs 1226 crore in the last 4 years.
More than 11008 clusters have been promoted under different livelihood sectors.
Mission Shakti Cafes across the State provide healthy and nutritious food to people in a homely setting while being a good source of revenue generation for SHG members. More than 100 such cafes have already been set up.
With high quality training being provided by Institute of Hotel Management (IHM), these cafes have a daily footfall of 50-100 and average monthly earning of Rs 50,000.
About 28,575 MT vegetables valued at more than Rs 67 crore were sold last year by 50,100 PG members. Also, 1,147 Millet Enterprises have been established by SHGs, promoting healthy and sustainable food practices. Pisciculture by 13,431 SHGs in 13501 GP tanks has led to a business turnover of Rs 139 crore.
To promote market-oriented activities and to help transform SHGs to SMEs, the Secretary is focused on new age skilling for SHG members in the areas of agri-ventures, fashion design, beauty and wellness, food and retail sector and so on.
The strength of the SHG movement lies in the strength of its institutions. Over the last few years, she has focused on the strengthening of SHG institutions right upto the grassroot level.
The Government has provided Rs. 1 crore Revolving Fund to 30 DLFs, Rs 50 Lakh Revolving Fund to 338 BLFs, Community fund of Rs. 1697 crore to all 6178 GPLFs in the last 4 years.
Also, Rs. 217 crore per annum as Meeting Fees and TAs to all EC members of all federations has been given.
Uniform and Smartphone allowance to all 70,000 Community Support Staff and Laptops to 2000 Bank Mitras for assuring SHG finance.
The thrust has also been on the development of Mission Shakti infrastructure. For the first time, Mission Shakti institutions have received huge infrastructure support for strengthening SHGs and creating markets for their products.
While 6662 Mission Shakti Gruhas have been constructed at GPs and Urban areas @ Rs. 5 lakh (Rural) and @ Rs. 7.09 lakh (Urban) expenditure, 127 Mission Shakti Bhawans have been constructed at Block Level @ Rs. 50 lakh.
Two Mission Shakti Bhawans have been constructed at District Level with an expenditure of Rs 1 crore. 119 Mission Shakti outlets opened in 22 districts. 4 District Level Mission Shakti Bazaars are under construction. The State Level Mission Shakti Bazaar will be opened soon.
The Mission Shakti Department has fulfilled all the promises made in the Election Manifesto. While the Government promised to give Rs 5000 crore worth of Government Business to the SHGs in five years, Rs. 4949.14 crore worth Government business and Rs. 1226 crore income has been achieved.
The Department has opened 119 Mission Shakti retail outlets in 22 districts. Work on four District Mission Shakti Bazaars are in progress. About 470 GPLF office buildings with Market complex are sanctioned in the first phase.
At the latest, she launched the Mission Shakti Scooter scheme, where two lakh members will be covered. Under the scheme, interest subvention for loans upto Rs. 1 lakh for purchase of scooter is being borne entirely by the State Government.
This has been possible for the persisitant efforts of the ‘Pro-People’ Mandarin, as she has taken Mission Shakti to a ‘New Level’ and is consistently empowering the Mission Shakti Movment in the State, feel observers.
