K'taka govt to establish 'anchor bank' to facilitate women's SHG activities

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], April 9 (ANI): Karnataka government will establish the 'anchor bank' to ease the availability of financial help for women's self-help groups, said Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday.
Inaugurating the 'Sanjeevini Saras-2022' national mela at Basavanagudi National College Grounds on Friday evening, Bommai said that the anchor bank will ensure the financial help within one-month duration thus enabling the SHG women entrepreneurs to commence their activities at the earliest.
In the recent budget, an amount of Rs 500 crores have been earmarked to further strengthen women's self-help groups which are estimated to create four lakh self-employment opportunities, the chief minister informed.
He further said that in the budget, the government has allocated Rs 47,000 crores for women's welfare and Rs 43,000 crores for children's welfare and the government will issue an order within a week to implement these intended programmes.
Though the state stands in fourth place in the country in terms of per capita income, only 25-30 per cent are contributing to the GSDP, and the rest 70 per cent are working only for their livelihood, he said.
Bommai asserted that the government is taking all measures to empower those who are in the 70 per cent group so that they also will be able to engage in economic activities which contribute to the GSDP.
Among women, only 5-10 per cent are economically self-dependent. Despite women toiling hard in every sector, their effort is not being valued in a justifiable manner. Inclusive growth will become a reality only when women are actively involved in economic activities, he opined.
The chief minister also mentioned that the transactions by SHGs have doubled as a result of linking them with e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, etc.
Dr Ashwath Narayan, Minister for Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood, in his introductory remarks said, the government aspires for equal distribution of resources by empowering women belonging to self-help groups.
Ministers MTB Nagaraj, Shakarappa Munenakoppa, MLC A Devegowda, MLAs Uday B Garudachar, Ravi Subrahmanya, Actresses Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, Sonu Gowda, National Livelihood Mission Director Manjusri, ACS Selvakumar, ACS Vandita Sharma were among those who were present.
Over 300 stalls set up by SHGs from 23 states will display and sell more than 150 different products till April 18, Bommai added. (ANI)