K'taka Minister confident of loans for SHGs at 4 pc

Udupi, Mar 7 (UNI) Karnataka Cooperative Minister G T Deve Gowda today exuded confidence that loans at four per cent interest rate to Self Help Groups (SHGs) and Stree Shakti Groups (SSGs) would be announced in the coming budget on the lines of the loan facility extended to farmers.

Inaugurating 'Sadhna Saavesh', the convention of Navodaya SHGs promoted by Navodaya Grama Vikasa Charitable Trust here, he said the Ministry had made such a demand as the SHGs promoted by non-governmental organisations such as Navodaya Grama Vikasa Charitable Trust and Sri Kshetra Dharmastala Rural Development Project were functioning efficiently and the loan recovery rate was cent per cent.

The Minister noted that despite several efforts taken by the Government and NGOs for women empowerment, inequality and gender bias still existed in the society though women, through education and economic empowerment programmes, had proved that she was not inferior to men in any field.

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, who had cancelled his trip to Udupi at the eleventh hour as he was pre-occupied with budget preparation in Bangalore, in a message through mobile phone, said special assistance would be announced in the coming budget to SHGs in the State. Several NGOs were striving for economic development through micro financing by promoting SHGs, which had not only helped in economic empowerment of women, but also enabled them to unite themselves and become self-reliant.

UNI