Lucknow, January 6: The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday dispensed a total loan of Rs 4314 crore to over 5,06,995 micro, small and medium industries as part of the ‘Online Swarozgar Sangam' programme. On the occasion, 75,000 traditional artisans trained under 'Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana' got a free toolkit along with 10,000 trained handicrafts men under 'One District, One Product’ scheme.

In an interaction with beneficiaries of the scheme through virtual medium, the CM asked them about their projects for which loans had been taken and also expressed happiness over the progress of youth through schemes like ODOP, Mudra Yojna, Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana. Yogi Adityanath Govt Committed To End Corruption in Uttar Pradesh, Makes It Mandatory for All Departments To Make Purchases Through GeM Portal.

Congratulating the beneficiaries, the CM said "When you give a job to a single person, they become the means of living for an entire family and consequently a family becomes self-reliant. Witnessing his progress, the entire village strives to get connected with the new initiatives.”

Through the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme, financial assistance provided ODOP funding, Mukhyamantri Yuva Swarozgar Yojana, Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana, Mudra Yojana among others, people have found a new direction.

The chief minister added that the women have shown great enthusiasm in self-employment programmes in the state. “Today, training is being given to 75,000 women in all the districts of the state. Out of which, the government is also providing interest free loans to 25,000 artisans under Pradhan Mantri Shram Yojana.”

If these women are financially independent, then the society will also be empowered. This is also the aim of the government's 'Mission Shakti', he added.

Highlighting its flagship scheme Mission Shakti, the CM stated that,“In order to safeguard the dignity of women and to make them self-reliant, schemes like Banking Correspondent Sakhi and others were started.

Speaking about the One district one product initiative of the government, the CM maintained that every district has an identity now through ODOP, but those identities were abolished by the intervening governments.

“Our government recognized them after coming into power in 2017, and through Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana, we did the work of promoting traditional handicrafts.”

The Chief Minister said that today, through the One District One Product scheme, we have linked one product each with those districts to make all 75 districts a brand. This has created a lot of employment opportunities.

He said that during the COVID-19 period, the state government had a challenge to save the lives and livelihood of 40 lakh migrant workers."MSME units did a commendable job in this direction by providing extensive employment in the state. This is a continuous campaign, if a person's skill is incorporated with employment, then the society becomes self-supporting. This is a factor in the progress of Uttar Pradesh in the last 5 years.”

The MSME sector gained momentum through investment, loans worth more than Rs 4,000 crores have been disbursed to 5,06,995 beneficiaries today, he added. The Chief Minister urged the beneficiaries to keep in constant touch with the banks and make digital payments.

In this programme, CM Yogi Adityanath, Minister of MSME industries Siddharth Nath Singh and Minister of State Chaudhary Udaybhan Singh also released a booklet based on employment generation in MSME units.

Additional Chief Secretary MSME, Dr. Navneet Sehgal informed that in the survey conducted in 11 lakh MSME units, it was found that 27 lakh people have got employment here. In the last around five years, we have made 95.49 lakh units financially self-sufficient by providing loans through various schemes and in this way more than 3 crore youth have been directly employed in these units.

During the interaction with the CM, Sheela, who is in the business of manufacturing surgical bands in Siddharth Nagar, Anisha Bansal of Moradabad involved in business of metal handicraft decorative items , Sparsh Agrahari, a metal sheet cutting worker in Varanasi, Dinesh Awasthi, a confectioner in Kanpur Dehat, Istkhar, a wooden furniture manufacturer in Saharanpur shared their experiences.

Akhilesh Chandra, a terracotta craftsman of Gorakhpur, told the CM that he has also given employment to 6-8 people and saves two-and-a-half lakh rupees annually. The CM expressed happiness over the stupendous income of Akhilesh. Praising the efforts of all, the Chief Minister said that these people are examples of self-reliance.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 06, 2022 07:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).