‘Born to win’: J&K opens purse strings to help aspiring women entrepreneurs to live their dreams

SRINAGAR: Women of Jammu and Kashmir have a big reason to smile as Lieutenant Governor-led Administration has opened purse strings to help them to live their dreams and become proud entrepreneurs.

From financial assistance to interest subvention, Jammu and Kashmir government has rolled out `Tejaswini-The Radiant’ to empower women by providing financial assistance for setting up gainful self-employment ventures in the Union Territory.

Under the scheme, the government will provide Rs five lakh Mudra loan to women intending to become entrepreneurs. The government will provide a 10 percent subsidy on the project cost up to Rs 50000. Plus there will be interest-free repayment. The interest component shall be borne by Mission Youth.

All women in the age group of 18 to 35 years are eligible under the scheme. The minimum qualification for eligibility is Matriculation.  Female domiciles registered with Mission Youth are eligible under this scheme. Any entity wherein women hold a 50 percent share are also eligible for the scheme.

Around 31 percent (39.25 lakh) of the Jammu and Kashmir population are in the age group of 18 to 35. Of them, 18.52 lakh are women.  Jammu and Kashmir has a total population of 1.25 crore.

Unlike past, the government has fixed a timeline for the approval and disbursal of the loan amount to the beneficiary. Under this scheme, eligible cases shall be sanctioned within one month by districts for commencement of the business activity. District Committee headed by the deputy commissioners will scrutinize and sanction the cases within one month.

 Initially, the government intends to target 2000 women. Preference will be given to those coming from underprivileged sections of society.

“In the first phase, we are looking at 2000 women beneficiaries. Though all women are eligible, preference will be given to those who are underprivileged,” Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mission Youth, told The Kashmir Monitor.

Interested candidates can apply from July 27 when the scheme will become operational. “Process has been kicked off. Applications have been called,” he said.