Govt plans huge push to create SC/ST, women entrepreneurs: FM

Asking party workers to reach out to SCs, STs and women, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said that the Government will soon launch ‘Stand Up India’ scheme to provide loans of up to Rs one crore to help members of these communities become big entrepreneurs. “In the next few days under Stand Up India scheme, every bank branch will provide loans of up to Rs one crore to one SC/ST and one woman, to enable them to set up big industries and turn into big entrepreneurs,” he said addressing partymen at the executive committee meeting of the BJP’s Delhi unit.

He said that although the BJP lost Assembly election in Delhi, the party should try and strengthen its base by reaching out more to different sections like SCs/STs and women due to the disillusionment caused by both Congress and AAP. “There is need to reach out more to SCs/STs and women and take the schemes of the government forward. Mudra Bank is benefiting lakhs and crores of minorities, SCs/STs and women and there is need for you to reach out to them and strengthen your base among them,” he said, asking BJP’s Delhi unit to gain more political space by strengthening base among weaker sections.

Jaitley said it was their duty to bring together people who were benefited by various schemes launched by the NDA government, be it Mudra bank, Jan Dhan Yojna and other such social security measures. “We lost election, but not our vigour. In Delhi, the ground is open as Congress has lost its vigour. It is losing its political space,” he said, adding that there is disillusionment with AAP government too “as the politics of theatrics can be done only in limits”.