There are a huge number of women living under difficult circumstances in our state. Most of them are widows, women victims of armed conflict and deserted women living with children with no source of income and support. For survival, some of these women are compelled to resort to sex trade, selling of liquor and narcotic substances. In order to provide them with an alternate source of income for their better livelihood, this scheme has been devised to extend loan facility to these women. The loan will be provided without interest, and monitored through the Partner NGOs (PNGOs) at the district level and the Sub-Division Partner NGOs (SPNGOs) wherever SPNGOs have been notified. The selected beneficiaries will be provided interest-free loan ranging from Rs.10, 000/- to Rs. 30,000/-.
Criteria for eligibility
1. Women in difficult circumstances with no regular source of income;
2. Age of beneficiary should be between 18 to 50 years.
Nature of Assistance
• The amount of financial assistance will range from Rs. 10,000/- to Rs. 30,000/- per selected beneficiary according to the activity proposed to be taken up.
• A moratorium of 3 months will be provided following which, the full repayment by the beneficiary to the Department must be completed in 12 months.
Procedure for Applying under the Scheme
The application in the prescribed format (Format ‘A’) addressed to the Director, Directorate of Women Resource Development, Govt. of Nagaland shall be submitted to the concerned Partner NGO (District)/Partner NGO (Sub-Division) of the Department along with 2 passport size photographs and a brief write-up on the activity proposed to be taken up.
Identification, Verification & Selection of Beneficiaries
• The PNGO/SPNGO shall, through its sub-units and representatives/members, provide wide publicity to ensure fair and equitable representation of all tribes cohabitating its district/sub-division;
• The PNGOs/SPNGOs shall identify deserving beneficiaries and forward the detailed list of identified women to the District Women Development Programme Monitoring Committee (DWDPMC) for onward verification and selection;
• Verification of the authenticity and dependability of the applicant shall be carried out by the DWDPMC with all Committee Members present.
• Selected list of beneficiaries countersigned by all DWDPMC members present along with documents of the applicants shall be forwarded to the Director, Department of Women Resource Development for sanctioning of loan fund.
Project Verification, Monitoring and Loan Recovery
• The concerned PNGO/SPNGO shall be responsible for recovery of loans from the selected women entrepreneurs after expiry of the moratorium period.
• The PNGO/SPNGO shall maintain a Loan Issue & Recovery Register as given in (Format ‘B’) which shall be examined by the DWDPMC from time to time.
• The DWDPMC shall monitor the progress of the individual women entrepreneurs under its jurisdiction and submit Half-Yearly Progress Reports (Format ‘C’) to the Directorate of Women Resource Development.
• Copies of both Formats ‘B’ and ‘C’ shall be submitted to the Directorate of Women Development by 15th June and 15th December every year.
• Repetitive failure to furnish the Reports within the stipulated time shall compel the Department to withhold/withdraw the revolving fund during the next financial year.
Guidelines for Re-loaning of Revolving Fund
The financial assistance is on the basis of a revolving fund, the recovery of which will subsequently be granted to other applicants. Upon recovery of 50% of the total sanctioned amount, i.e. Rs. 75,000/- for district level PNGOs and Rs. 25,000/- for sub-divisional PNGOs, the DWDPMC shall have the authority to re-loan the revolving fund to other deserving applicants who shall be identified by the PNGOs.
All members of the DWDPMC are required to be present during selection of new beneficiaries as per the modalities prescribed above.
*It is subjected to fund availability of the Department.