Mahila Samridhi Yojana (M S Y)
Mahila Samridhi Yojana (M S Y)
The Mahila Samridhi Yojana (MSY) was launched on 2nd October, 1993 with the objective of empowering the rural women through building thrift habit, self-reliance and confidence. During the first two years of its operation the performance of scheme, as measured by achievement against the all India target and the amount of the money deposited in MSY accounts was not encouraging, and the cost of the scheme was also on the higher side, Programme. Evaluation Organisation was asked to evaluate the performance, imple-mentation and impact of the scheme, to identify the gaps, if any, and suggest measures that would improve the performance of the scheme. The report was submitted in April, 1996.
It was observed in the PEO study that the factors that had adversely affected the performance of MSY related primarily to the method of implementation and complexity/ambiguity in the rules for operating MSY accounts. The operational cost of MSY was on the higher side and far outweighed the benefits received by the beneficiaries. The high cost of operation might not have affected performance, but it certainly raised the question of sustainability of the scheme. There was wide variation in performance across various states and districts due to interaction of a large number of factors such as the levels of socio-economic development, the effectiveness of the publicity media and implementing agencies. The operational rules of MSY were complex and the Branch Post Masters, the key persons for operation of the schemes, lacked their understanding due to poor quality of training and educational background. There was poor monitoring and supervision of the scheme also. The scheme, in general, had not been successful in developing thrift habit among the rural women.
It was observed that the fundamental problem in the implementation of the scheme was adoption of the target oriented and top-down approach without actual participation of the rural women in the programme. Therefore, it was suggested that the task of popularising the scheme be entrusted to the grass-toot level women. Self Help Groups, Mahila Mandals, DWCRA, NGOs etc. There was an urgent need for drastic simplification of the operational rules for MSY accounts and reducing the operational costs to ensure sustainability of the scheme. There was also need to strengthen the monitoring mechanism for the scheme. It is learnt that Department of Women & child Development have taken follow-up actions on the findings of the evaluation study of PEO.
With the objective of providing economic security to the rural women and to encourage, the saving habit among them, the Mahila samridhi Yojana was started on 2 October 1993. Under this plan, the rural women of 18 years of above age can open their saving account in the rural post office of their own area with a minimum Rs. 4 or its multiplier. On the amount not withdrawn for 1 year, 25% of the deposited amount is given to the depositor by the government in the form of encouragement amount. Such accounts opened under the scheme account opened under the scheme account opened under the scheme are provided 25% bonus with a maximum of Rs. 300 every year. Up to 31 March 1997 2.45crore accounts were opened under this scheme with a total collection of Rs 265.09crore. The Department of Women and Child Development, the nodal agency for MSY, decided in April 1997 that now new MSY accounts should be opened form 1 April 1997 onwards but the existing account could be maintained.