In a bid to provide succor to the street vendors and the unemployed youth, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot had announced Indira Gandhi Urban Credit Card Scheme. The basic idea is to financially empower the urban people also much like MGNREGA. Gehlot approved the draft of the Indira Gandhi Urban Credit Card Scheme, 2021 on Monday for providing financial support to street vendors, youngsters employed in the service sector and those looking for self-employment.
There are schemes such as MGNREGA to provide employment opportunities in rural areas, but there is no such scheme for urban areas.
Actually CM Gehlot had announced in this year”s budget that a scheme would be launched to generate employment and self-employment opportunities, and to cater to the daily needs of youngsters in urban areas affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The scheme will provide financial support to street vendors, hairdressers, rickshaw-pullers, carpenters, potters, cobblers, masons, tailors, washermen, painters, electricians and plumbers.
It is this unorganised sector which suffered a lot first due to demonetization and later in the covid pandemic. Gehlot has always called for the need of a scheme for urban employment and this scheme is directed towards that only.
The beneficiaries will be given interest-free loans of up to Rs 50,000 without any guarantee. A total of five lakh beneficiaries living within the limits of urban local bodies will be covered under the scheme, the statement said.
The moratorium period of the loan is three months and the repayment period 12 months. The district collectors will be the nodal officers for an effective implementation and a review of the scheme.
