Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has approved a comprehensive package for rebooting rural economy and improving the life and livelihood of people affected due to Covid-19 pandemic.
Departments like Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water, ST & SC Development and Women & Child Development & Mission Shakti will work for improving the livelihood of poor and very poor families in the villages, Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water department said in a statement here, Tuesday.
The government has rolled out four packages to revive rural economy, which has been severely hit by the pandemic.
In the first package, the government has decided to provide working capital support for individual nano and micro enterprises with one time loan up to Rs 50,000 per entrepreneur. A member of SHG can avail the loan for taking up both farm and non-farm activities.
The second package involves one-time financial assistance of Rs 1.5 lakh to existing collective enterprises (enterprise group and producer group) for agriculture and non-agriculture sectors. The loan assistance will be extended per group to invest in existing enterprises and livelihood projects, it said.
The government has also decided to provide loan upto Rs 20,000 to enterprises managed by very poor or destitute families like persons with disabilities (PwDs), particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs), widow, third gender, destitute families with women as head among others.
Similarly, loans up to Rs 1 lakh will be disbursed to skilled and semi-skilled migrant workers who have returned from other states during Covid-19 pandemic. The fund could be used for development of existing enterprises and establishing new enterprises, the government said.
The Chief Minister is hopeful that the package will be helpful in improving the economic condition of the poor, very poor and migrant returnees.