Congress Government committed to strengthen women participation in Rural Economy

Shimla, May 19
· Empowered women build stronger families and communities: CM
To ensure stronger participation of women in the rural economy, the present state government is set to launch the ‘Mukhya Mantri Mahila Sashaktikaran Yojana’ in line with its budget announcement. Through this scheme, women will be provided with loan facilities to start businesses related to agriculture, horticulture, allied activities and other self-employment ventures. This initiative of the state government will encourage women in rural areas to create self-employment opportunities and further strengthen the rural economy.

Under the scheme, women from rural areas whose family annual income does not exceed Rs. one lakh will be eligible for benefits. Through the Himachal Pradesh Women Development Corporation, scheduled banks will provide loans of up to Rs. three lakh for setting up self-employment units such as dairy farming, poultry farming, beekeeping, food processing, tailoring, boutiques, beauty parlours and other enterprises. The state government will bear four percent of the interest payable on these loans.

Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that the present Congress government is implementing several welfare schemes for the social and economic upliftment of women. He said that women play a vital role in the rural economy and that, keeping in view the changing socio-economic needs and challenges, the state government is working towards making women self-reliant and empowered. He said that when women become empowered, the entire family becomes economically stronger. He further said that the state government has fixed Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for naturally grown wheat, maize, raw turmeric, barley from the Pangi region and ginger with the aim of increasing the income of people of rural areas. In addition, the procurement price of milk has also been increased significantly.

To strengthen the rural economy, the state government has increased the procurement price of cow milk from Rs. 51 to Rs. 61 per litre and buffalo milk from Rs. 61 to Rs. 71 per litre. Under the Milk Incentive Scheme, farmers who personally deliver milk to procurement centres are being given a direct incentive of Rs. three per litre. The transport subsidy on milk has also been increased by Rs. 1.50 per litre.

To protect farmers from market instability, the Minimum Support Prices for products grown through natural farming have been increased substantially. The support price for naturally grown wheat has been raised from Rs. 60 to Rs. 80 per kilogram, maize from Rs. 40 to Rs. 50 per kilogram and raw turmeric from Rs. 90 to Rs. 150 per kilogram. In addition, a support price of Rs. 30 per kilogram has been announced for ginger for the first time. The government has also announced the formation of a Rajya Kisan Aayog to ensure the participation of farmers in policymaking.