EMN
Dimapur, July 25
22 self-help groups from 13 villages in Mon district’s rural development block were “credit linked” through what officials called “interest subvention” scheme from the Nagaland State Cooperative Bank (NSCB), Mon branch. The facility was launched during a “special function” that was conducted on Friday, July 24, in the DRDA Resource Centre in Mon town.
During the function, letters of sanction were handed over to members of 22 self-help groups by officials of the NSCB. The enthusiastic SHGs gave an assurance to utilize the loan amount for sustainable purpose and repay within the stipulated period, keeping in mind the fate of other SHGs.The organizers issued updates to the media, on Saturday, in a press release.
The branch manager of the NSCB, W Chemkai Konyak, addressed the gathering. In his keynote address, he expressed happiness “seeing the strong commitment of the women folk coming to work together with their peers and help one another to come out of poverty”.
Seeing what he called “the sign of change taking place in Mon”, particularly among the women of the self help groups through the initiative of Nagaland State Rural Livelihood Mission, Konyak encouraged the rural economic units to be ‘role models in social and economic reformation’. He expressed confidence that they would “create success story and set an example to other communities”. While sharing his concern about the poor economic condition and “slow pace of progress of the Konyak community”, the official assured every possible support to the self-help groups.
Also, the district program manager L Temjen Longchar spoke. Exhorting the women folk, he encouraged them to ‘sincerely and dedicatedly follow the guidelines of NSRLM and promote one’s livelihood’. He made a strong appeal to the self help groups to ‘meticulously’ invest the loan they receive and ‘see that economic development takes place in the family and society’.
Dwelling on a number of issues between the bank and the public, Longchar opined that ‘trust and confidence’ sustains ‘furtherance of relationship’. He advised the self-help groups to ‘maintain a humble beginning and grow steady and strong to achieve success’.
Also, District Program Coordinator Rajuselie Lhousa said in his address that the process of credit linkage with the self-help groups “reached this level after undergoing extensive capacity building”. So far, the total number of self-help groups linked with the credit facility in Mon is 28, all from the NSCB, he said.
He expressed gratitude to the NSCB for granting loan at the rate of 7% and “without hassle in ‘no due certificate’ as well as for ‘clearing the NSRLM proposals in appropriate time’.
Mon district is identified as one among the 150 most backward districts in Nagaland and women self-help groups from this section are given interest subvention at the rate of 7% per annum for loans up to Rs. 3 lakh and an additional subvention of 3% on timely repayment.
Presenting a brief report about Mon’s RD block, an official M. Hangsa Konyak, said that there were 19 villages under Mon block. ‘Formation of 98 new groups last year brings the total number to 225 self help groups’, he said. “He said his team has put great care in selecting the outstanding SHGs for credit and therefore expressed optimism that they will be able to repay in time,” the organizers added in the press release.
