From Parlour to Animal Husbandry: Haryana Government Provide Loans to Women to Start Businesses

Shimla Devi has opened a beauty parlour with a loan of Rs. 1 lakh from Haryana Sarva Gramin Bank under the Haryana Mukhyamantri Antyodaya Parivar Utthan Yojana (MMPAUY). Shimla Devi, 45, a mother of 2 daughters, was left with no choice but to start working as a labourer in her native Tandwal village after her husband Pawan Kumar died in 2018.

Devi later began making mats in the village to improve her living conditions, thanks to a 20,000 loan from Aarti Samuh, a Haryana State Rural Livelihoods Mission self-help group (HSRLM).

Devi, however, had to provide for her elder daughter Aarti, 20, and her two children after her son-in-law died two years later. With a $50,000 loan from the same self-help group, she opened her own cosmetics shop in Barara town.

After receiving a loan of Rs 1 lakh from Haryana Sarva Gramin Bank under the Haryana Mukhyamantri Antyodaya Parivar Utthan Yojana, she opened a beauty parlour for Aarti last year (MMPAUY).

Devi isn't alone. Pooja and Manju, both from Ambala Cantonment, were also given loans under the scheme, which enabled them to start their own businesses. They now own and operate grocery stores in the Bihari Lal Building and BC Bazaar, respectively. After getting divorced, Pooja's relative Gaurav Kumar said she has been running the store for the past 15 years.

"Despite the fact that her two children live with her ex-husband, she has always wanted to work for herself. "We never imagined that any government would be willing to lend us money," he said.

Officials said both attended an MMPAUY Mela at SD College in December last year and were each given a loan of 1.5 lakh by Punjab and Sind Bank, with a portion of the money already disbursed.

Mamtesh, 35, runs a dairy business with her relatives in the Naraingarh sub-division to supplement her husband's labourer income and support their family of five in another part of the district. She owns four cattle and supplies milk to a local firm as a Badoli village resident.

"Under the scheme, we were given a loan of 1.6 lakh and were able to add a buffalo to our farm with some of the money that was initially disbursed." "This will undoubtedly assist us in increasing our family's income," she says.

The scheme's goal, according to Additional Deputy Commissioner, Ambala, Sachin Gupta, is to ensure the economic upliftment of families with an annual income of less than Rs. 1.80 lakh per annum through skill development, wage employment, self-employment, and job creation, and then increase it to at least Rs. 1.80 lakh per annum.