The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved changes in the criteria to extend benefits under the Deen Dayal Antyodaya Rashtriya Aajeevika Mission to over 10.58 lakh women in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. An allocation of ₹520 crore has also been made for the next five years.
The scheme is aimed at providing livelihood to women in rural areas. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said due to some technical reasons, very few women in J&K and Ladakh were eligible for the programme. Therefore, certain changes in the criteria were approved by the Cabinet to ensure that 10.58 lakh women in the two Union Territories benefited from the special package.
Mr. Javadekar said there were 63 lakh self-help groups comprising seven crore women members in the country. They had been granted ₹3 lakh crore in loans and the non-performing assets amounted to only 2.3%. The outstanding loans were to the tune of ₹1 lakh crore.
The Central government planned to take the scheme to 10 crore women, said the Union Minister.
