Financial Succor to Nomadic Tribes
The Government of Maharashtra takes special efforts to extend support to the financially deprived classes of the society. The simple logic is, that the desire for prosperity has no regard to castes and social class and that anybody who nurtures the spirit of entrepreneurship deserves to be encouraged to start their own business. The Government has therefore established several organizations and designed financial schemes to reach aid to aspiring businessmen from these strata.
Vasantrao Naik Vimukt Jaati va Bhatkya Jamaati Mahamandal Maryadit is an organization that works for the benefit of nomadic tribes. The sole intention is to help the members of this class have permanent homes and economic stability. It aims to put a stop to their nomadic lifestyle by helping them generate self employment so that they have a stable means of livelihood, their children can go to school and the family can prosper.
The Mahamandal was established in 1984 and operates from Mumbai. It has local offices in all the districts in Maharashtra. Under its first scheme, it extends seed capital up to Rs. 5 lacs with 75% being loan by the bank and 25% by the Mahamandal. The Mahamandal charges 4% annual interest rate.
Some of the important points are:
- The beneficiary must repay the loan in five years.
- Under another scheme the Mahamandal gives Rs. 25000 loan at 2% interest.
- The beneficiary also gets technical training and guidance in the business he or she wants to starts.
- The candidate must be a resident of Maharashtra and between 18 to 45 years of age.
- The annual income must not exceed Rs. 54494/- if he or she lives in the urban area and Rs. 39308/- if from rural area.
- Beneficiary must not have taken any other loan.
- Only one person from a family can avail of this scheme.
- The beneficiary must submit proof of caste and income, a statement of details of business, Ration Card, Photographs, certificate of technical qualification if any and other documents.
- Beneficiary must utilize the money for the purpose mentioned in application
Author: Anil Pathak
The author is a Senior Mentor at deAsra Foundation. deAsra Foundation is a Section 25 company, a not for profit association formed to contribute to social welfare by enabling entrepreneurship, which will create employment opportunities.
This article was originally written in the Marathi Magazine- Yashaswi Udyojak (January 2016). This post is the translated abridged version of the same article