No takers in Gurugram for micro-credit scheme to make widows independent

It was in March this year that the department of women and child development issued a notification to all district offices of HWDC for promoting the scheme.

The state government’s micro-credit scheme for widows to make them economically independent and self-reliant has, it seems, failed to find takers from the district. Launched in February this year, the ‘Subsidised Scheme for Widows’ run by Haryana Women Development Corporation (HWDC) has the target of providing loan to 50 widows in the current financial year.

According to the official, the selected applicant will get a maximum subsidy of Rs 50,000 and will have to give 10% of the total loan. After the loan is approved, women can set up their enterprise for stitching or units of spices, pickles and food processing, local bakery items or running a ready-made garment store. (HT FILE)

“Till now, we have received only a couple of calls from families enquiring about the scheme but there are no beneficiaries in the district under the scheme, which gives the credit of Rs 1lakh to 3 lakh to a widow for setting up her enterprise,” said Deshraj, district manager, HWDC.

For Gurugram district, Rs 25 lakh has been sanctioned under the scheme. The total budget is Rs 5 crore under which 1,000 widow beneficiaries are to be covered across the state, according to the official.

“The scheme will gain momentum after state assembly election scheduled to be held in October,” said Deshraj, adding that the department cannot spend a huge amount on the promotion of the scheme as model code of conduct can be imposed in the state anytime soon. “We cannot promote the scheme. We will have to wait until the formation of the next government,” he said.

It was in March this year that the department of women and child development issued a notification to all district offices of HWDC for promoting the scheme. Being the implementing agency, the HWDC had to extend the outreach of the scheme in both urban and rural areas. “Earlier this week, an advertisement was published in a local daily. If we manage to get 50 applications, we might hold the final selection round,” Deshraj said.

For the subsidised scheme for widows, the applicants have to appear in front of a committee comprising district administration officials. “It includes additional deputy commissioner, district programme officer from department of WCD, member of the corporation, and DGM, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). The final selection has to be done by the committee,” Deshraj said, adding that the selection process makes the widow scheme different from other schemes run by the HWDC.

According to the official, the selected applicant will get a maximum subsidy of Rs 50,000 and will have to give 10% of the total loan. After the loan is approved, women can set up their enterprise for stitching or units of spices, pickles and food processing, local bakery items or running a ready-made garment store.

“It includes all the activities that do not fall in the negative list of industries department,” said Rajveer, another HWDC official.

Under the individual loan scheme for women that gives a maximum credit of Rs 1 lakh, the HWDC last year provided loan to 10 women who wanted buffaloes. “Under the Subsidised Scheme for Widows, if we receive an application for buffalo loan, we will provide it,” said Deshraj.

Also, a part of the scheme is to provide 60 days of skill development training to beneficiaries by institutes in the field of hotel management, Khadi and Village Industries Board and medium and small scale industries. It also includes Medium Entrepreneurship Development Programme (MEDP) and Long Entrepreneurship Development Programme (LEDP) in collaboration with NABARD.