Eye on UP Polls, PM's 'Stand Up India' Reaches Out To Dalits

Noida: With an eye on Dalit votes in the mega battle for Uttar Pradesh early next year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his "Stand up India scheme" today to promote entrepreneurship among Scheduled Castes and Tribes and Women with easier loans, from that state.

PM Modi's choice of venue -- Noida in Uttar Pradesh -- and the presence of 16 Dalit lawmakers of his BJP at the programme indicate that the party is aggressively pursuing the Dalit vote, a crucial 20 per cent of the state's total voters.

Invoking Dalit icon Babu Jagjivan Ram in his address at the inauguration ceremony, PM Modi said, "Today is Jagjivan Ram's death anniversary. He never let his Dalit background stop him. That's why we have chosen this day to launch stand up India."

Under the scheme, "1.25 lakh banks will loan money to 1.25 lakh young people from marginalised communities," the Prime Minister said. "Every branch of every bank will ensure that a woman, a Dalit person or a tribal will be given a loan... The idea is to turn job seekers into job creators."

The BJP began preps for the Uttar Pradesh election last month with top leaders calling for extensive outreach by the party's lawmakers in their constituencies. The party holds 71 of Uttar Pradesh's 80 parliamentary constituencies after its sweep of the state in the 2014 national election.

Advertisement

The "Stand up India Scheme" will help members of Scheduled Castes and Tribes and Women get loans of between Rs. 10 lakh and Rs. 1 crore for their non-farm businesses. The scheme proposes to leverage the institutional credit structure to reach out to these under-served sectors of the population by facilitating bank loans.

Borrowers will be provided a debit card called RuPay to enable them to withdraw working capital. The government will also, through the Small Industries Development Bank of India or SIDBI, open a refinance window with an initial amount of Rs. 10,000 crore.

Advertisement

On the occasion, the government also distributed 5,100 e-rickshaws and launched a mobile application under which one can order an e-rickshaw through RuPay Card and Jan Dhan.

BJP lawmaker from Machhalishehar Ram Charit Nishad said, "As a Dalit I know the PM's scheme to give loans to Dalits is a game changing idea. Now the banking structure has to ensure that the scheme is executed with zeal and sensitivity."