As part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mohatsav celebration to commemorate 75 years of India's Independence, 75 Self Help Groups (SHGs) under Nagaland State Rural Livelihoods Mission were awarded Rs. 1.31 Crore loan from Nagaland Rural Bank. The cheque was handed over to NSRLM-SHGs by the Chief Minister of Nagaland during the Independence Day celebration on 15th August 2022 at the Secretariat Plaza, Kohima on 15th Aug 2022.

The bank credit will support the SHGs and their households in taking up income-generating activities covering Farm Livelihoods, Non-Farm livelihoods, and Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) Micro-enterprises. This will foster the national goal of creating "Lakhpati SHG Women" to enable SHG women to earn at least Rs 1 lakh per annum. The credit linkage will continue to become an annual event thereby enhancing the State Rural Livelihoods Mission's effort toward building the credit worthiness of rural women in Nagaland. Enabling access to financial services at the doorstep and providing alternative banking solutions has the collective goal of the State, NSRLM, Banks, and Financial Institutions.

It may be mentioned that the State Mission has thus far created an SHG corpus of more than Rs. 160 Crore which remains as a collective fund at the community level, and has also accessed Rs. 28.41 Crore through bank credit to date.

(Akummeren, IA)