Andhra Pradesh govt announces zero-interest loans for women Self Help Groups amid COVID

Amid the deadly Coronavirus Pandemic which has compelled the Central government to extend the nationwide lockdown adding to the economic crisis, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has launched interest-free loans for women Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in the state.

"YS Jagan Mohan Reddy led government has already fulfilled most of their promises made in the manifesto with schemes. Now with the introduction of interest-free loans, welfare of women is being taken care of," Eluru MP Kotagiri Sridhar told ANI on Friday.

"In this hard time of Coronavirus, we are able to help the women who are in need of help. They have not been going to work for the last month due to the lockdown. Our Chief Minister recognised the need to help the people in the hour of crisis," he said. 

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Women Self-help groups to produce PPEs

Earlier, the Andhra Pradesh Government had given mass orders to women self-help groups to produce Personal Protection Equipment (PPEs) under the Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (MEPMA) scheme. The orders were given citing the shortage of PPEs. As per the state data, more than 40,000 women belonging to self-help groups in the state have gained employment in the production of these masks earning Rs 500 per day. In addition to that, the state government announced that it would distribute around 16 crore of these masks produced by the SHGs to the needy across the state for free.

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The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday claimed it topped the country in conducting the most number of coronavirus tests per million population, clocking 830. In all, 41,512 people were tested across the state so far, the Medical and Health Department said in a release. Of the total tests, 40,699 have turned negative so far, it said. No other state was conducting coronavirus tests on this scale, the release claimed. The Andhra Pradesh government had on April 17 imported one lakh Rapid Test Kits (RTKs) from South Korea to step up COVID-19 testing in the state. They were the first batch of the one million RTKs ordered by the state government.