Which one of the following is the targeted group under the 'Pradhan Mantri Swanidhi Scheme' ?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — D, Street vendors. The scheme's own name says so: PM SVANidhi stands for Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi. It was launched on 1 June 2020 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, with SIDBI as the implementing agency, to put working capital back into the hands of urban street vendors whose earnings had collapsed in the COVID-19 lockdown. Eligibility is defined around that trade and no other: a vendor must have been vending on or before 24 March 2020 and must be identified by the urban local body, holding either a Certificate of Vending or a Letter of Recommendation from the ULB or Town Vending Committee. The credit is a collateral-free working-capital loan that grows with repayment — 10,000 rupees in the first cycle, 20,000 in the second and 50,000 in the third — with a 7 per cent annual interest subsidy credited directly to the vendor's bank account for timely repayment, plus a monthly cashback of 50 to 100 rupees for using digital payments.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) PM SVANidhi is an urban scheme run by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs; marginal farmers are served by a different set of instruments — the Kisan Credit Card for crop credit and PM-KISAN for income support, both under the agriculture ministry.  (b) Dairy support runs through cooperative societies, the National Dairy Development Board and dedicated dairy infrastructure funds under the animal husbandry and dairying department. Nothing in PM SVANidhi's eligibility — a vending certificate from an urban local body — fits a dairy farmer.  (c) The livelihood guarantee for rural landless labour is MGNREGA, with rural livelihood support through the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana. PM SVANidhi lends to a person who runs a micro-business on a street in a town; being landless is neither a qualification nor a disqualification under it.

Concept: PM SVANidhi sits at the meeting point of two policy strands. One is the recognition of street vending as a lawful occupation rather than an encroachment, given statutory shape by the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, which requires urban local bodies to survey vendors, constitute Town Vending Committees and issue Certificates of Vending. The other is micro-credit for people the formal banking system will not lend to because they have no collateral and no credit history. PM SVANidhi links the two: the vending certificate created by the 2014 Act becomes the identity document that unlocks a small collateral-free loan, and repaying that loan builds the digital and credit footprint that lets the vendor borrow more next time.

State PCS 2022 Q28 — Current Affairs PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2022 Q28 — Current Affairs PYQ with Answer