Daljeet Kaur/Sangrur, May 13, 2023: Under the Punjab State Rural Livelihood Mission (PSLRM), the scope of self help groups formed to raise the social and economic standard of living of women belonging to poor families in the villages of District Sangrur is increasing rapidly. While divulging details, Deputy Commissioner Jitendra Jorwal said that this mission is proving to be a boon for those women who believe in raising their standard of living through hard work. He said that as many as 3310 self-help groups have been functioning successfully in eight blocks of the district, out of which 2743 groups have been provided financial assistance of Rs. 395.57 lakh as revolving fund. He said that 3236 groups were given 1346.99 lakh rupees as community investment fund ranging from 50 thousand rupees to 1 lakh 10 thousand rupees while cash credit limit of 357.00 lakh rupees was made for 742 groups from different banks.
Deputy Commissioner said that these self help groups were actively working in 8 blocks of the district, which are Sangrur, Andana, Sunam, Bhawanigarh, Dhuri, Dirba, Sherpur and Lehragaga. Under the mission, groups of 10 to 18 poor and extremely poor women were formed in the villages by the representatives and in association with banks and village organizations, loans were provided at lower interest rates so that the members of these groups can support their children’s education, treatment of some kind of disease and conduct activities to increase their income. He said that now, there were many women in the district who have started their own shops, beauty parlours, sewing, embroidery, dairy farming, mustard oil production, boot making, painter, cosmetic, flour milling, plumbing, pickles making etc. occupations with the help received through these groups to generate their own sources of income. He said that these groups were being run through a five-point system which includes weekly meeting, weekly savings, continuous mutual transactions, regular loan repayment and record maintenance and these groups strengthen their economy by producing various domestic products.
Deputy Commissioner said that these self help groups were also engaged in handicrafts, home products, fans, phulkari, production of mustard oil etc. and were being sold through fairs, exhibitions and other stalls held from time to time.
