Haryana Minister of State for Women and Child Development Kamlesh Dhanda on Monday said that taking a step further towards its commitment for the development and upliftment of women, the State Government has started a scheme to give subsidy on the loans for the widows. She said that this project will be run through Haryana Women Development Corporation.
Sharing more information in this regard, the Minister said that the widows living in the State of Haryana, who have an annual income of three lakh rupees and are in the age group of 18 to 55 years, will be eligible to get benefits under this scheme.
She said that under the scheme they will be provided 25 percent subsidy on loans up to Rs 3 lakh, the maximum limit is Rs 50,000. She further informed that 10 percent of the total loan will be given by the woman herself and the remaining amount will be given through banks.
Dhanda said that under the scheme, a provision will be made to provide loans to 1000 widows in the first year and Rs. 5 crore will be provided as subsidy by the Haryana Government. This scheme will be implemented through banks, wherein the loan will be given by the bank to the eligible woman without holding any collateral security.
The Minister of State said that in this scheme, provision has also been made to provide short-term training to women before giving loans. This training will be imparted under the Entrepreneurship Development Program through Hotel Management Institute, Punjab National Bank, Khadi and Village Industries Board and Institutes of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises so that the widow can develop their skills.
She said that training will be provided free of cost by these institutions, so that women do not feel lack of work efficiency in setting up their own business or small scale industries. She said that the State Governmnet will be providing loans for boutiques, tailoring, taxi / auto / pickle units / food processing, manufacture of carry bags, bakery, readymade garments, milk production, computer job curves etc. and any other work that a woman is capable of doing.
The Minister said that this scheme is a commendable step taken by the government towards making the widows of the state socially and economically self-reliant. She said that by availing benefits under this scheme, women can improve their economic and social status by starting their own businesses and small scale industries. Minister of State said that the State Government has proved its commitment to uplift the socio-economic of women by implementing a welfare scheme for women.