The Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation (KSWDC) has been taken by surprise as there are only very few takers for the KSWDC’s special scheme for providing loans at low interest rates to the women returning from Saudi Arabia, after the implementation of Nitaqat.
The loan scheme is meant to start business ventures on their own. Only two applicants had approached the KSWDC so far for the loan, which was announced as early as in June, two months after the Saudi Government introduced Nitaqat.
“So far only two applicants have approached us for the loan. We rejected the two applications because they were not genuine. We have given advertisements in newspapers many times about the scheme. But the response was poor.
The rehabilitation schemes announced by the government may be the reason for the returnees not opting for the loan,” KSWDC chairperson P Khulsu told Express. KSWDC has set apart Rs 10 crore to be disbursed as loans to women who returned from Saudi Arabia as well as for the wives of those who also had to leave Saudi, following the implementation of the Nitaqat law.
The loan is being provided for finding self employment and the loan amount starts at Rs 1 lakh. A woman can get as much as Rs 10 lakh as loan at six per cent interest rate. The KSWDC is ready to even tap the money from the general fund, other than the one kept for providing loan, to disburse it to the needy if the demand for loans are high.
The aim was to support the women who lost their job and was left with no means of livelihood and those who were dependent solely on the incomes of the men who were working in Saudi. The loan scheme has been incorporated in KSWDC’s women empowerment programme for the 2013-14 financial year. The details of the scheme is available at the KSWDC head office here and also at the regional offices in Ernakulam and Kozhikode.
No time limit has been set to apply for the loan. However, the Kerala Pravasi Sangham, an organisation for the wellbeing of the non- resident Keralites, said it was ignorant about the KSWDC’s loan scheme. “We are not aware that such a scheme exists. It could be better if the information is passed on to more women,” Pravasi Sangham state vice-president K Vijayakumar said.