Subhechcha Ganguly 
Meet Mrs Sujata Karthikeyan Pandian. She has carved a peerless reputation for herself in Odisha’s corridors of power. True, she is a part of the power couple, in fact, the most powerful couple. But her enviable image is untagged from her spouse, the redoubtable mandarin Mr V Karthikeyan Pandian. She is not just another indomitable lady bureaucrat who inspires enormous trust and goodwill among women folks.
Millions of women in Odisha are rooting for this straight-talking, above-board officer. It’s the contagious Mission Shakti effect. The contagion has spread across the length and breadth of the state and produced spectacular outcomes on the ground. Mrs Pandian has catalyzed a buzzing revolution for women, led by women. The biggest takeaway of the cohesive Mission Shakti movement is its elevation to an exclusive department helmed by Mrs Pandian. You can hardly recall any other state cementing the identity of women entrepreneurship the way Odisha has done. Giving Mission Shakti administrative teeth has taken it far, chronicling more success stories.
A beaming Pandian announced at a recent media conference that the Mission Shakti has snowballed into a massive grouping. It has incorporated 6 lakh+ SHGs in its ambit, buttressed by the participation of over 70 lakh people. Small wonder then that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has secured an overwhelming patronage of the female voters.
But the success of women entrepreneurship in Odisha has breached the borders of electoral politics. It’s a story worth celebrating and a success worthy of parading. Mission Shakti is an inspirational movement- one that has turned our women more aspirational! It has changed the idiom of women entrepreneurship from SHG to SME. This transition is amply manifested in the lifestyles of the once-dispossessed women, now raring to wow the world with their entrepreneurial zeal.
Mrs Pandian has played a stellar role in transitioning their sobs into smiles. She is the moving force behind Mission Shakti deservedly making it to the hallowed list of the state administration. The department tag has endowed Mission Shakti with the policy impetus needed to fuel progress.
She has been instrumental in the Cabinet resolution that mandated the procurement of Rs 5000 crore of goods and services from the SHGs. The SHGs have also been envisioned to operate as mini banks.
The Mission Shakti cohorts will get further empowerment with the Government of Odisha’s announcement of setting exclusive micro-industrial parks for women across the 30 districts in the state. Such parks will offer comparable facilities and incentives being dangled at the other industrial parks in Odisha. The state government will avail technical expertise for these exclusive parks that will come up in locations most convenient to the women folks.
Separately, as a fiscal enabler, the state government has announced interest-free loans of up to Rs 5 lakh for women. The government will provide for the interest subvention expenses.
To consolidate the Mission Shakti wave further, the state government has forged partnerships with Flipkart, Pradaan and the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad. More agreements are in the pipeline with World Fish and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to bolster exports.“Mission Shakti has boosted self-esteem and women’s empowerment. It is for women led by women”, quips Mrs Sujata Pandian.
Let the movement grow. And the tribe bloom.
