Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s success in the Assembly elections is credited to the immense faith women have reposed in him. Women voters, especially those associated with self help groups (SHGs), comprising over 70 lakh women, are the key to Patnaik’s success, stress political observers.
Women from six lakh SHGs from across the state had arrived at the Idco Exhibition Ground to witness the swearing-in ceremony of their beloved leader, Naveen Patnaik. This loyalty and love of women voters has made Patnaik to nominate women to a third of the Lok Sabha seats. Five of the six women who contested the polls are now in Parliament.
Orissa POST spoke to some of the women attendees at the swearing-in ceremony and asked them what encouraged them to vote for Naveen again and what more do they expect from him.
Pushpamitra Behera of Sonepur district said she took a loan to set up her little furniture workshop. As her financial situation has improved, she is able to educate her children. She said they are also getting interest-free loans up to Rs 3 lakh which help them become self-reliant. “We hope to get more incentives from the government,” she said.
Umarani Panda of Deogarh said she had joined an SHG three years ago and today she has a bank balance of more than Rs 2 lakh. Panda said Naveen Patnaik had launched a lot of schemes such as free smart phones to all the six lakh women SHGs under Mission Shakti programme. Last year’s Make in Odisha conclave here also helped in further accelerating the socio-political and economic empowerment of women, she added.
She said, “We expect some measures from the government in terms of increase in loan amount in coming days.”
Sadhanta Pati of Ulunda block in Sonepur said, “Because of the Mission Shakti movement, there has been a change in the lifestyle of the people of our area. The people started earning money and even those with criminal background have joined the mainstream.”
Meena Rani Pradhan of Anugul said that successful examples such as SHG leader and a Class-II drop out— Pramila Bisoi – who won the MP seat from Aska Lok Sabha constituency, and Jayanti Ekka, a tribal woman who is the president of the SHG Federation of Sundargarh District to whom Naveen had given a standing ovation at Make in Odisha conclave last year, gave us hope that our future is bright.
The women SHGs have pinned their hopes on the new Minister of Women & Child Development and Mission Shakti Tukuni Sahu.