Kolkata, Oct 24 (IANS) The West Bengal government is planning to bring the state's Self-Help Groups (SHG) under insurance cover within the current fiscal year, a minister said on Monday.
"There are 1.95 lakh SHGs registered with the state. We are planning to provide each group with an insurance coverage of Rs 1 lakh," state Co-operative Minister Arup Roy said.
"I have asked my colleague minister Sadhan Pandey, the minister in-charge of department of SHG and SE to provide me the names and addresses of the groups. We are hopeful to complete the process by the end of the current fiscal year," he said.
The SHGs and Self Employment Department focus on generating self employment for unemployed youth, providing skill-upgradation training and maintaining sustainable livelihood, among other activities.
Officials claimed "95 per cent of the loan, given to the SHGs has been recovered in the last financial year".
"This sustainable growth of SHGs has enabled the government to provide them security in the form of group insurance that would help the groups in case of loss of capital or any other untoward incident," Roy added.
