Mission Shakti to continue: Odisha Deputy CM

The uncertainty over the continuance of Mission Shakti prevailing since the formation of the BJP government was over with Deputy Chief Minister and Mission Shakti Minister Pravati Parida clarifying that the scheme won’t stop but would continue with new vigour.

On Monday, despite it being a holiday, Mission Shakti Minister Parida arrived at the Mission Shakti department at 11 AM where Secretary Shalini Pandit, Director Vineet Bhardwaj and other officials gave a two-and-a-half-hour long presentation. They elucidated how the department functions and what are the hurdles it is facing. 

After the meeting, Minister Parida termed Mission Shakti as a micro government. 

“There should be no doubts over Mission Shakti's continuity. It will run in the coming days. It is a micro government. Mission Shakti is the only department which will fructify the Prime Minister’s dream of ‘Viksit Odisha’,” said Parida. 

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The minister also assigned tasks to the officers to make Odisha No-1 in producing ‘Drone Didis’ and ‘Lakhpati Didis’. 

There are about 70 lakh women members associated with 6,02,000 Self Help Groups (SHGs) in Odisha. It was the BJP government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the centre that launched SHGs. However, the outgoing Naveen Patnaik-led government was accused of using SHGs as its vote bank. It was giving away free loans, scooters and mobile phones using the central government’s money and was claiming it to be its own funds.

During the just–concluded elections, allegations of SHG women distributing money brought disgrace to it. 

As of now, the SHG women have pinned hopes on the new government. 

“Our group is 15 years old. But we have never got any free loan. We hope for some benefits from the new government,” said Hira Nayak, an SHG member. Another SHG member from Koraput, Rashmita Nayak echoed the same.