Odisha Governor urges women to take up entrepreneurship for financial self-reliance

Bhubaneswar, Jan 1: Odisha Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati on Thursday encouraged women to embrace entrepreneurship by availing loans under various government schemes, emphasising financial independence as a key step towards empowerment.

Interacting with villagers at Krushnanjanpur village under the Sadar block of Puri district on the first day of the New Year, the Governor highlighted the importance of the MUDRA scheme and urged women to effectively utilise such initiatives to become self-reliant. Expressing happiness over the enthusiastic participation of women, he extended New Year greetings and voiced hope that more women entrepreneurs would emerge across the state in the days ahead.

The Governor received a warm traditional welcome, with villagers performing Ghoda Nach and Odissi dances. During the programme, he distributed kits comprising blankets, sarees, calendars and sweets to around 50 women participants.

While interacting with the villagers, Kambhampati enquired about the benefits they had received under various welfare schemes, including PMSBY, PMJJBY, Subhadra Yojana, PMAY, Atal Pension Yojana and Sukanya Samruddhi Yojana. Expressing concern over low enrolment in social security schemes, he advised local bank officials to intensify awareness campaigns to ensure wider outreach of pro-people initiatives.

Villagers also raised several grievances during the interaction, following which the Governor directed the district administration to take prompt steps for redressal.

Puri Member of Parliament Sambit Patra, Brahmagiri MLA Upasana Mohapatra, Secretary of the Puri Konark Development Authority Dilip Kumar Moharana and senior district officials were present on the occasion.

Earlier, the Governor had expressed his intention to visit Puri on the first day of the New Year. However, in view of the heavy influx of devotees at the Shree Jagannath Temple and possible inconvenience due to security arrangements, he decided not to visit the temple and instead interacted with villagers at Krushnanjanpur, which was finalised as the venue for his visit.