The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday disbursed a total loan of Rs 4314 crore to 5,06,995 micro, small and medium enterprises as part of the ‘Online Swarozgar Sangam' programme.

On the occasion, 75,000 traditional artisans trained under Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana got free toolkits along with 10,000 trained handicrafts men under the One District, One Product scheme.

In an interaction with the beneficiaries of the scheme through virtual medium, the chief minister asked them about their projects for which loans had been taken and also expressed happiness over the progress of youth through schemes like ODOP, Mudra Yojana, Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana.

Congratulating the beneficiaries, the chief minister said, "When you give a job to a single person, it becomes the means of living for an entire family and consequently a family becomes self-reliant. Witnessing this progress, the entire village strives to get connected with the new initiatives.”

The chief minister added that women have shown great enthusiasm in self-employment programmes in the state.

“Today, training is being given to 75,000 women in all the districts of the state. Out of which, the government is also providing interest-free loans to 25,000 artisans under the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yojana,” he said.

“If these women are financially independent, then the society will also be empowered. This is also the aim of the government's Mission Shakti,” he added.

Highlighting the government’s flagship scheme Mission Shakti, the chief minister said to safeguard the dignity of women and to make them self-reliant, schemes like Banking Correspondent Sakhi and others were started.

Speaking about the One District One Product initiative of the government, the chief minister maintained that every district has an identity now through ODOP, but those identities were abolished by the previous governments.

“Our government recognised them after assuming office in 2017, and through the Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana, we did the work of promoting traditional handicrafts,” he said.

The chief minister said that today, through the One District One Product scheme, the government had linked one product each with districts to make all 75 districts a brand and this had created a lot of employment opportunities.

He said that during the COVID-19 period, the state government had a challenge to save the lives and livelihood of 40 lakh migrant workers.

"MSME units did a commendable job in this direction by providing extensive employment in the state. This is a continuous campaign, if a person's skill is incorporated with employment, then the society becomes self-supporting. This is a factor in the progress of Uttar Pradesh in the last five years,” he said.

The MSME sector gained momentum through investment and loans worth more than Rs 4,000 crore were disbursed to 5,06,995 beneficiaries on Thursday, he added.

The chief minister urged the beneficiaries to keep in constant touch with the banks and make digital payments.

In this programme, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, MSME Minister Sidharth Nath Singh and Minister of State Chaudhary Udaybhan Singh also released a booklet based on employment generation in MSME units.

During the interaction with the chief minister, Sheela, who is in the business of manufacturing surgical bands in Siddharth Nagar, Anisha Bansal of Moradabad involved in business of metal handicraft decorative items, Sparsh Agrahari, a metal sheet cutting worker in Varanasi, Dinesh Awasthi, a confectioner in Kanpur Dehat, Istkhar, a wooden furniture manufacturer in Saharanpur, shared their experiences.

Akhilesh Chandra, a terracotta craftsman of Gorakhpur, told the chief minister that he had also given employment to 6-8 people and saved two-and-a-half lakh rupees annually. The chief minister expressed happiness over the stupendous income of Akhilesh. Praising the efforts of all, the chief minister said that these people were examples of self-reliance.