New Delhi: Seeking to find faults in a government scheme meant to provide self-employment, senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj on Sunday alleged that the poor who sought micro-finance loans under it were left "insane" after being made to run from pillar to post.
The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, referring to Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) scheme, alleged that the government was least concerned in the welfare of poor as they were more interested about bringing reforms that benefit
corporates.
"It is not easy to take loans in our country...people who try to seek loans under the SGSY scheme go insane after they are made to run pillar to post even for a small loan sometimes they are asked to get a guarantor, sometimes they seek mortgage or else commission is sought..there are so many hurdles that poor are left deprived of any benefits from the scheme," Swaraj claimed.
Swaraj, who was addressing a loan distribution mela organised by Centre for Holistic Advancement and Upliftment of Poor and Landless here, said the limitation of the scheme is also rooted to the fact that loan recovery is very poor.
She also appealed to the public to make donations so that corpus of micro-finance loans increase and many more poor and under-privileged people can take benefit of such NGO-run schemes.
Director CHAUPAL, Bolanath Vij said that these loans are relief to the poor, who also seek to live with dignity. "These loans are to empower people in a way that they can start earning themselves after the initial assistance."
The Yojana, which comes under the Ministry of Panchayat and Rural Development, is financed on 75:25 cost sharing basis between the Centre and the states.
Its objective is to bring the assisted poor families above the poverty line by providing them income generating assets through a mix of bank credit and governmental subsidy.
The programme aims at establishing a large number of micro-enterprises in rural areas based on the ability of the poor and potential of each area.
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