Jammu and Kashmir government is empowering and encouraging young women through ambitious ‘Tesjaswani scheme’ by providing financial assistance for setting up gainful self-employment ventures, suited to their skills, training, aptitude and local conditions. The UT administration is also facilitating soft finance for setting up new enterprises or for expansion and modernization of existing ventures for income generation.
Pertinently, the scheme was launched by Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, in June 2021. The broad aim of this start-up funding programme for adolescents and young women of the UT is to make them empowered and self-dependent through their own business ventures. ‘Tejaswini scheme provides financial assistance to the young women of 18 to 35 years of age’.
Under the scheme, female entrepreneurs are facilitated to avail financial assistance under Mudra from J&K Bank to the extent of Rs 5 lakh. An official said that Mission Youth J&K is providing an amount of Rs 50,000 or 10 per cent of project cost as upfront subsidy. Besides, an interest subvention up to 60 thousand rupees is also being sponsored by the government as special incentive thus making repayment of loan technically interest free for the young female entrepreneurs who apply for assistance under the scheme. The scheme intends to provide assistance to all eligible young women who are domiciles of J&K and have a qualification of matriculation and above. It also caters to enterprises where women entrepreneurs hold not less than 50 per cent of financial holding, besides providing assistance to set up women centric businesses and micro start-ups. Pertinently, Mission Youth has conceptualized this scheme for young women of J&K to uplift the status of women in society in view of low female participation in various entrepreneurial and livelihood generation activities.
In the financial year 2021-22, Mission Youth had sponsored more than 2000 cases of women entrepreneurs under the scheme during the current financial year with a budgetary component of Rs. 12 crore as government subsidy. The government also helps the young aspiring women entrepreneurs in acquisition of fixed assets (plant and machinery, equipment, furniture and fixtures) and meet the working capital needs for purchase of various products and equipments etc. Women entrepreneurs are also being provided EDP trainings through JKEDI to impart them with basic skills about running their business ventures Notably, the scheme has the distinction of being the first of its kind under which repayment of financial assistance will be interest-free up to a certain extent. It has been specifically modeled to ensure that businesses set up by these young women turn into viable and flourishing enterprises.
