With an objective of promoting self employment opportunities among women of Uttarakhand, the state government has recently launched the Mukhyamantri Nari Sashaktikaran Yojana. Informing about it the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that under this scheme regulations would be introduced to make getting loans easier for women and they would get a subsidy of 30 per cent of the project cost or one lakh rupees. All women of the state can take advantage of the new scheme. The Pioneer spoke to  some self-employed women of Uttarakhand who expressed their views on the scheme.

The business owner of her own brand, Nivatu, Jyoti Doval said, “Paperwork is one of the problems that women face with new businesses. They don’t know about these schemes and they don’t have enough knowledge to apply for the loans.” She elaborated that the MSME procedures for loans are complicated and women who open their own business often don’t know which official to contact or how to make official project files. The women who start their small businesses need guidance from the government. She believes while this scheme is a good step, implementation of it especially for the women who start from the grassroots is very important.

Business owner, Kamalpreet Kaur said, “Business owners need subsidiary help at the very start of their venture, but subsidies may sometimes take a long time to process.” In the new scheme, arrangements have been made to provide self-help groups interest-free loans of up to a certain level and she believes that women who open up small businesses do and should take help from these self-help groups. She concluded, “As a woman, I believe we don’t need special treatment and more schemes, but the proper implementation of older schemes needs to be perfected.”

The owner of a home bakery, Sugar Wagon, Angelina Joseph, said, “The main problem faced by small-business owners is that people don’t usually trust our products in comparison to mainstream brands. People question our prices and qualities.”

She believed that any local government-affiliated certificate would help with the problem of credibility. She further added, “These schemes are good, but can only be helpful if they reach women who start small.” She hoped that better marketing and promotional opportunities are included for all in the new scheme.