Over 7 crore women benefited from Mudra scheme: PM Modi

Over seven crore women, belonging to Self Help Groups in the country, have been given loans totalling more than Rs 3 lakh crore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

“The Mudra scheme has enhanced the avenues of self-employment in the village,” Modi said releasing ‘Deh Vechwa Karani’, the autobiography of late stalwart Dr Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil, through video-conference.

He renamed Pravara Rural Education Society as Loknete Dr. Balasaheb Vikhe Patil Pravara Rural Education Society – after the name of one of the pioneers of the co-operative movement.

Dr Vikhe-Patil is son of Vithalrao Vikhe Patil, who started Asia's first co-operative sugar factory at Loni in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil was a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil’s son Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil was a former state Minister and ex-leader of Oppositon. Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil's son is now a BJP MLA, while his grandson Dr Sujay Vikhe-Patil is a BJP MP.

The Prime Minister said that the boost to self confidence among the poor, in those residing in the villages, will strengthen the resolve for self reliance. “Balasaheb Vikhe Patil also wanted to instill this belief of self-reliance in villages,” he said.

The Prime Minister said that after independence, when the country did not have enough food to feed, the priority of the government was how to increase the productivity of the crop. But in this concern for productivity, the focus was not given towards profitability of the farmer.

He said the country is now emphasising on increasing the income of the farmer, and has made constant efforts in this direction, such as the decision to increase MSP, neem coating of urea and better crop insurance.

He added that due to initiatives like PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, farmers now do not have to depend on others for small expenses. Moreover, unprecedented work has been done on augmenting infrastructure such as cold chains, mega food parks and agro-processing infrastructure, he said.

Referring to Balasaheb Vikhe Patil’s emphasis on the need to preserve the traditional knowledge of farming, wherein farming was done according to the natural conditions, the PM said, "We must preserve that knowledge and must also combine new and old methods in agriculture." In this context, he cited the example of sugarcane crop, where both new and old ways of farming are used. He said now industries are being set up to extract sugar as well as ethanol from sugarcane.

The Prime Minister said that Dr. Balasaheb Vikhe Patil always endeavoured to solve the problems in the villages of Maharashtra like the problem of drinking and irrigation water. He added that under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, work was done rapidly to complete 26 projects in Maharashtra, which were stuck for several years. Out of these, 9 projects have already been completed. With the completion of these projects, about 5 lakh hectares of land will get irrigation facilities, he added.