Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary
Credit: PTI File Photo
The Centre informed the Lok Sabha on Monday that loans to the tune of Rs 2,946 crore worth had been sanctioned for SC/STs and women in Karnataka under Stand Up India scheme since 2018.
“Karnataka accounted for a total of 13,389 new loan accounts under the scheme during April 2018-March 2025,” said a written reply by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary.
Answering a question by BJP member Captain Brijesh Chowta (Dakshina Kannada), the minister said that the scheme was launched on 5 April, 2016, with an objective to provide loans from scheduled commercial banks between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore to at least one Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) borrower and one woman borrower per bank branch for setting up a greenfield enterprise.
Since the launch of the scheme, Karnataka has seen the sanctioning of 16,846 loan accounts, amounting to Rs 3,750.4 crore.
The Centre said 11 primary schools in Dakshina Kannada district were repaired under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) during 2023-24 and 2024-25.
As per the state government, many government schools were damaged due to rains.
In 2024-25, repair works of 240 school buildings were undertaken using natural disaster management funds by the district administration and 312 school buildings using state government funds, said Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary said.
In a written reply to Brijesh Chowta, the minister said SSA provides flexibility to states to prioritize interventions.
The ministry of education has issued advisories from time to time, emphasizing preparedness and prompt restoration in disaster-affected areas.
Further, the department of school education & literacy, in coordination with the National Disaster Management Authority, had issued guidelines to promote disaster resilience in school infrastructure, the minister said.