Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi pitched for the sustained propaganda of various government-sponsored schemes among the public to help eliminate their financial problems.
In her WhatsApp message to media persons from Karaikal, where she has been camping since Monday, the former IPS officer said there should be a shift from “dependence to self-help.”
This would eliminate sufferings caused to due to ignorance and neglect of government schemes encouraging “self help group” concept.
Bedi, who had held interaction with the fishermen in the region said, “When National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is offering loans at 4.2 percent for rural poor, fishermen have been taking loans from loan sharks at 46 percent which lands them in debt traps.”
She further said, “All that the poor fishermen and other sections need is connect between resources and persons in need.. The challenge is how do we communicate our evolving policies to those for whom they are meant.”
The LT Governor’s suggestions for popularising constantly the government schemes to meet their financial requirements and to protect themselves against the loan sharks is timely in the context of the occurrence of instances of usury.
The opposition AIADMK here has already come out with a firm appeal to the territorial government to ensure that the bank’s loans under MUDRA scheme were available without delay to the small businessmen lest the poor and financially weaker sections fall into the trap of usurers leading to mind-boggling outcomes.