Banwarilal Purohit, Governor, Punjab and Administrator, UT, Chandigarh, addressed the Street Vendors on Sunday at SVANidhi Mahotsav– a cultural festival for celebrating the success of PM SVANidhi Scheme and SVANidhi Mahotsav, as part of the Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav, at Rani Laxmi Bai Mahila Bhawan, Sector 38.
He said that street vendors have been an essential part of the country’s economic growth story with linkages with the formal economy and have always played a significant role in reducing cost of living, by providing goods and services at affordable rates.
Sarbjit Kaur Dhillon, Mayor; Dharam Pal, IAS, Adviser to the Administrator; Nitin Kumar Yadav, IAS, Home Secretary; Vinay Pratap Singh, IAS, Deputy Commissioner; Isha Barak, Assistant Director, Ministry of Housing Affairs and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.
While addressing the street vendors and other dignitaries, the governor said that SVANidhi Mahotsav was a festival for celebrating and recognising beneficiary street vendor’s growth story and their contribution towards the Indian economy. The festival aims to celebrate 75 years of India’s independence with these nano-entrepreneurs, honoring their journey under PM SVANidhi scheme for demonstrating credit discipline, digital behavior and displaying their astute business acumen, he added.
He said that the PM SVANidhi scheme was launched during 2020 to facilitate working capital loans to the street vendors to help them restart their businesses which were adversely impacted due to the lockdowns imposed during COVID-19 pandemic.
He further said that this scheme was the first comprehensive effort for financial inclusion of the street vendors. Prior to this, street vendors were dependent on the informal credit channels paying high rates of interest, he said.
The governor felicitated PM SVANidhi street vendors beneficiaries for digital onboarding and promotion of digital transactions, bank officials for performance under PM SVANidhi, Certificate of Vending to LOR street vendors, Parichay Boards to PM SVANidhi beneficiaries and Area level/City level Federation and SHGs for their exemplary work under DAY National Urban Livelihood Mission.
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Earlier, Sarbjit Kaur Dhillon, Mayor, Chandigarh welcomed the Chief Guest and other dignitaries to be part of the SVANidhi Mahotsav. The Svanidhi Mahotsav comprised of vibrant cultural and recreational activities planned with the family members of street vendors, Self Help Groups (SHGs) and other beneficiaries of DAY NULM including musical chairs, antakshari, street play and skits, regional dance performances, folk art performances, magic show, bioscope etc. In addition, few awareness sessions were also organised on single use plastic bags, segregation of waste, home composting for street vendors and women SHG members.
It was a zero waste event, organised by the Municipal Corporation, where no plastic item was used. Cutlery used for refreshment including glass, plates, bottles etc. No plastic flowers were used. The venue was decorated with fresh natural flowers, which were disposed off through composting after the event.