NABARD & UGB join hands for upliftment of economic standard of rural women of Thuamul Rampur Block of Kalahandi District

Ashapradeep Bureau

About 25 years back, NABARD started the SHG Bank Linkage programme in the country. Through this intervention, many grass-root informal congregations of rural women were made, which not only helped them in securing loans from the formal sources, but also resulted in their empowerment. The intervention which once started as an alternative for linking un-banked poor to the formal credit system, now has become a successful model of securing livelihoods. As on 31 March 2017, 4.32 lakh SHGs have been savings-linked and 2.20 lakh SHGs have been credit linked with the banking system in Odisha. The average loan per SHG account in Odisha stands at ₹ 1.41 lakh.

A mega camp for credit linkage of SHGs was organized in Thuamul Rampur Block of Kalahandi District. This block is the most backward in the district, with more than 80% tribal population. The programme was attended by Dr.K.C.Panigrahi,CGM,OdishaRegionalOffice, Sri Ranjit Kumar Mishra, Chairman Utkal Grameen Bank, Sri M K Meher, DDM-Kalahandi, as well as officials from UGB and DRDA-Kalahandi.

More than 2000 women SHG members participated in this mega camp, wherein 150 SHGs were credit linked to UGB Gunupur, Kalahandi. An amount of Rs.1.00 crore was disbursed as loan to theses SHGs. The credit-linked SHG members would utilize this loan amount to undertake various livelihood activities for poverty alleviation and economic empowerment.