Stand Up India aims to empower every Indian: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, launching the “Stand Up India” initiative on Monday, said it aims to empower every Indian and enable them to stand on their own feet. “That is why every person living at the lowest strata of the society should get opportunity. He should not be forced to live at the mercy of anyone,” said the PM. Mr Modi said India’s development journey will be stronger when it is scripted by the poor. The scheme was announced by Mr Modi in his Independence Day address.

Mr Modi also took a dig at the Congress, saying that no previous government had organised any function on the birth anniversary of Jagjivan Ram, who as agriculture minister did a lot to usher in the green revolution and was defence minister at the time of the 1971 war. “It is unfortunate that the contributions of such people are being ignored,” he said. Finance minister Arun Jaitley said his ministry, which is usually associated with big business houses, in the last two years has tried to work for the betterment of the poor people.

Meanwhile, UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav was absent during the launch due to the so-called “Noida jinx” — the belief among many politicians that whichever serving UP chief minister visits Noida loses the next Assembly election. However, the function was attended by state governor Ram Naik, culture minister Mahesh Sharma, minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha and MPs. The state government was represented by food and civil supplies minister Kamal Akhtar.

The PM also launched a new service on Ola apps, Ola e-rickshaw, at the event. He booked the first Ola e-rickshaw through mobile app Ola and took a brief e-rickshaw ride towards the stage, making the payment for the ride through a cellphone.

“A total of 5,100 Ola e-rickshaws will be launched in partnership with Bharatiya Micro Credit (BMC) at the event and will be deployed across Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad. This will be further scaled up in the coming months to more small towns and Tier-3 cities across the country,” said the company in a pre-event statement.

The PM interacted with the families of some of the beneficiaries over a cup of tea. The beneficiaries explained how e-rickshaws would change their lives for the better. The PM exhorted them to ensure that they educate their children.

Under the “Stand Up India” scheme, SC/ST and women entrepreneurs who avail loans would be given a RuPay Debit Card for withdrawal, besides comprehensive support like pre-loan training, facilitating loan, factoring and marketing.

There would be a Rs 10,000 crore refinance window through the Small Industries Development Bank of India and the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company Ltd will create a corpus of Rs 5,000 crore.