BARWANI: How the government launched the PM Street Vendor’s Atma Nirbhar Nidhi (PM SvaNidhi), a scheme that benefits people facing an economic crisis, is evident from the case of Mangla Didi of Moyda village, under Pansemal block, in Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh.
Mangla, as numerous other people, was under financial distress after the lockdown ended. Before the lockdown, she had supported her husband in bearing the family expenses of five members, by running a small tea stall at Moyda village.
During the lockdown, the couple was forced to spend their savings to run the household. After the lockdown was over, they were in a deep financial crisis and extremely worried about how they would restart the tea shop again to earn their living.
Ray of hope: They saw a ray of hope in the Street Vendor’s Yojana announced by the BJP-led state government. Mangla immediately submitted her online application through the gram panchayat and received an interest-free loan of Rs10,000 through her village bank. With the amount she received, she restarted her tea and pan shop and soon converted it into a small hotel. Today she is earning around Rs700 daily through this hotel.
It is worth mentioning that the ministry of housing and urban affairs had launched a scheme, PM SvaNidhi, to empower street vendors by not only extending loans to them, but also for their holistic development and economic uplift.
The scheme intends to facilitate collateral-free working capital loans of up to Rs10,000 for a one-year tenure to approximately 50 lakh street vendors to help resume their businesses in urban areas, including the surrounding peri-urban/rural areas.
