Govt. to start Akka Credit scheme for women’s upliftment, says Minister

The State government will start Akka Credit Societies to give impetus to self-help groups, Sharanprakash Patil, Minister for Medical Education and Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood development, said in Belagavi on Friday.

He was speaking at the inauguration of the Saras Mela-2025 held at the city’s Sardar high school grounds.

He said that 32 lakh families have been organised under the rural and urban livelihood campaign and 3,90,000 lakh families under the urban campaign. So far, more than one crore has been invested in self-help groups and a revolving fund is also being provided to new self-help groups.

He urged women to become self-reliant by taking advantage of the schemes implemented by the State government.

He said that some of the five guarantee schemes were implemented with women in mind. “We are confident that every rupee given to women is properly utilised for their family management and is conducive to their economic self-reliance,” he said.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who inaugurated the exhibition, said that the State government would promote handicrafts and products of women’s self-help groups by regularly organising exhibitions and fairs. “We are also regularly sending craftsmen and women artisans to exhibitions and fairs in other States and national levels,” he said.

He said that women were given necessary capacity skill development training, branding, packing, value addition, and marketing systems for products.

The livelihood programmes will not only help the economic upliftment of these rural families, but also aid in their social emancipation and political empowerment.

The zilla panchayat has organised the event in collaboration with the National Livelihood Campaign and the District Administration, and the city corporation of Belagavi.

MLA Asif (Raju) Sait said that the Saras Mela was proving to be a success every year. The Mela is a good platform for exhibition and sale of goods produced by self-help groups run by women and should be utilised, he said.

Women and Child Development Minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar, Deputy Mayor Vani Vilas Joshi, officials and others were present.