Empowerment of women is one of the key pillars of the transformation story of Odisha.
Recognising the role that women play in the development and transformation of families,
communities and States, Government of Odisha has accorded importance to women centric policies and programmes. Mission Shakti,
a flagship programmes of the State aiming at women’s self-help group (SHG) movement, has 6 lakh women Self-Help Group (WSHGs) with 70 lakh women as members in Odisha.
In recognition of women members’ self efforts towards entrepreneurship at SHG level, Government has introduced Interest Subvention Scheme for them named ‘Mission Shakti Loans’.
It provides interest free loans i.e at 0% rate of interest per annum for WSHGs, for loans up to Rs. 3 lakh on prompt and regular repayment effective.
It aims at accelerating the SHG bank linkage programme in the State and to supplement further livelihood promotion of women SHGs.
All 338 Block Level Federations (BLFs) across the state have been provided with revolving fund @ Rs. 25 lakh per BLF to extend internal lending to SHGs thereby
promoting women entrepreneurship. An administrative financial support of Rs. 1.5 lakh per BLF has been provided aiming at institutional strengthening.
The Cabinet on its first meeting on 29th May 2019 has approved provisioning of services and procurement in the Government sectors from Mission Shakti SHGs to deepen the engagement of lakhs of
women with Government programmes at the grassroot level and ensure last mile delivery of services while providing additional and sustainable livelihood opportunities to women SHGs.
Directorate of Mission Shakti endorsed unique model of outsourcing of Government procurements and provisioning of services in a structured manner to women SHGs targeting generation of business worth Rs. 1,000 cr. in the first year.
WSHGs are engaged in several sustainable livelihoods such as pisciculture in GP tanks, deep litter layer bird rearing, paddy procurement, supply of pre-school and school uniforms, commercial mushroom & vegetable cultivation,
Mid-Day Meal management, electricity meter reading & collection of electricity charges etc.
in convergence with several Government Departments. The above convergence initiatives have been able to provide WSHGs with business worth Rs. 523.9 crore so far.
Promoting products prepared by Mission Shakti SHGs, a state level exhibition named ‘Mission Shakti Mela’ was organised for the first time from 5th December to 16th December 2019 at Bhubaneswar.
This Mela had 214 stalls for display and sale of various handloom, handicraft, non-timber forest produce (NTFP),
food items, spices and non-farm products along with a “Food Court’. During this exhibition-cum-sale, women SHG products worth Rs 6.055 crore were sold. This Mela not only helped urban consumers gain knowledge and access to diverse and unique SHG products at Bhubaneswar,
but also enabled rural and urban women producers to showcase their products, develop market linkages and further refine their products according to current consumer preferences.