Minister for Rural Development Abdul Haq today informed the legislative Assembly that 323 Self Help Groups have been formed in Mandi block under State Rural Livelihood Mission UMEED.He was responding to a calling attention notice of Javed Ahmad Rana. The Minister further informed the house that Mandi block in Poonch district was brought under the UMEED scheme in November 2016.Abdul Haq further informed the house that 241 SHGs have been provided a revolving fund of Rs 36.15 lakh, while 125 SHGs have been provided a Community Investment Fund of Rs 50 lakh. He said 31 village organisations have also been formed, of which 30 VOs have been provided start up funds amounting to Rs 60 lakh.He said two cluster Level Federations have also been formed while 613 members have been covered under insurance scheme.Giving further details, Abdul Haq said the Surankote block in Poonch district has also been brought under J&K SRLM’s UMEED program in January this year and social mobilization has been initiated.
The Minister further informed that the programme mandates to reach out to 66% of rural population or form 90000 Self Help Groups (SHGs) across 143 erstwhile Blocks, link them to sustainable livelihood opportunities and nurture them out of poverty.He said the Mission provides capitalization i.e. Revolving Fund of Rs 15000 to SHG (after 3-4 months), Community Investment Fund- I of Rs 40000 after 6-7 months and Community Investment Fund - II of Rs 25000 after repayment of 50% of OF-I and Credit linkage after 9-11 months subject to the condition thSat SHGs survive till that period.He said under the programme, 22270 SHGs have been formed till date, covering about 2 lakh women folk. He said during the current fiscal, the Mission took additional 24 blocks in 3rd and 4th quarters of financial year 2017-18 and that the social mobilization rounds for formulation of SHGs is going on.