The Central government’s small loans scheme for street vendors got a boost from Bollywood celebrities on social media on Tuesday, with actors tweeting about the features of the PM Street Vendors AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi).
The scheme, which was launched in June as a part of the government’s economic package to address the COVID-19-related crisis, facilitates micro credit for street vendors. Loans of up to ₹10,000 can be availed under the scheme. As on Tuesday evening, the official website for the scheme of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) showed that 83,974 loans had been disbursed, while 3.39 lakh loans had been sanctioned out of the 10.1 lakh applications.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to interact with some beneficiaries from Madhya Pradesh via video-conferencing on Wednesday, prominent actors shared their support for the scheme on Tuesday evening. A MoHUA official said the tweets were a part of the Ministry’s social media campaign.
Actor Anil Kapoor and his brother, producer Boney Kapoor, tweeted identical texts and posters about the features.
“PM SVANidhi, a special initiative for empowering street Vendors for Self Reliant India #AtmaNirbhar Vendor @narendramodi @HardeepSPuri @PIB_India @mygovindia @MoHUA_India (sic),” both of them tweeted.
Actor Vivek Oberoi also tweeted with the same posters.
“#PMSVANidhi — a special initiative for empowering street vendors/hawkers for Self Reliant India. A micro-credit facility scheme to provide street vendors affordable working capital loan up to ₹10,000/- to re-start their livelihoods activities. Jai Hind,” Mr. Oberoi tweeted.
The MoHUA official said the social media campaign by celebrities would be continued with others likely to share their support as well.