Mudra helped entrepreneurs escape moneylenders, middlemen's clutches : PM Modi
New Delhi, May 29: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday interacting with the beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) said the scheme has broken the "vicious cycle" of moneylenders and middlemen who used to control an entrepreneur's dream.
"Mudra yojana has protected the interests of entrepreneurs by relieving them from the vicious cycle of 'sahukars' and middlemen," Modi said while interacting with the beneficiaries of the Mudra scheme through video conferencing on the Narendra Modi App.
"This vicious cycle had to be broken and someone had to do that. We did it, we broke it," he added.
The Prime Minister said the scheme was started to promote youngsters, women, business minded people. It was never planned by his predecessors as they stressed on "vote bank politics", he added. "We prepared a product for those who wanted to do something," Modi said.
The Prime Minister said earlier people without connections were unable to get loans and were either forced to wait or migrate to big cities in search of jobs.
"Mudra Yojana has opened up new avenues for youth, women and those who want to start or expand their businesses. Not only this, Mudra Yojana is also acting as a job multiplier," he added.
"Mudra Yojana has transformed lives of the poor. It has strengthened them economically, socially and provided them with a platform to succeed on," Modi said.
He said apart from some 110 banks, there were also 72 Micro Financial Institutions (MFI), nine Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) which were giving loans using much simpler paperwork. Around 75 per cent of these loans are given to youth and women.
The interaction came as the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government completed fours years at the Centre.
PMMY was launched by Modi in 2015 aiming to develop India's micro enterprises sector by providing loans up to Rs 10 lakh to non-corporate and non-farm businesses.
As many as 12 crore entrepreneurs have been benefited by it. There are three categories of loans under Mudra Yojana -- 'Shishu, Kishore and Tarun' -- which signifies the stage of growth from infancy to youth.
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Iran reimposes restrictions on Strait of Hormuz, accusing US of violating deal to reopen it
Cairo (AP): Iran swiftly reversed course on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, reimposing restrictions on the critical waterway on Saturday after the US said it would not end its blockade of Iran-linked shipping.
Iran's joint military command said on Saturday that “control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state ... under strict management and control of the armed forces.” It warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the US blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.
The announcement came the morning after US President Donald Trump said that even after Iran announced the strait's reopening on Friday, the American blockade “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the US, including on its nuclear programme.
The conflict over the chokepoint threatened to deepen the energy crisis roiling the global economy after oil prices began to fall again on Friday on hopes the US and Iran were drawing closer to an agreement. Roughly one-fifth of the world's oil passes through the strait, and further limits would squeeze already constrained supply, driving prices higher once again.
Control over the strait has proven to be one of Iran's main points of leverage and prompted the United States to deploy forces and initiate a blockade on Iranian ports as part of an effort to force Iran to accept a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire to end almost seven weeks of war that has raged between Israel, the US and Iran.
Iran said it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels after a 10-day truce was announced between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. But after Trump said the blockade would continue, top Iranian officials said his announcement violated last week's ceasefire agreement between Iran and the US and warned the strait would not stay open if the US blockade remained in effect.
A data firm, Kpler, said movement through the strait remained confined to corridors requiring Iran's approval.
US forces have sent 21 ships back to Iran since the blockade began on Monday, US Central Command said on X.
Truce in Lebanon could help US-Iran peace efforts
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The ceasefire in Lebanon could clear one major obstacle to an agreement. But it was unclear to what extent Hezbollah would abide by a deal it did not play a role in negotiating, and which will leave Israeli troops occupying a stretch of southern Lebanon.
Trump said in another post that Israel is “prohibited” by the US from further strikes on Lebanon and that “enough is enough” in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
The State Department said the prohibition applies only to offensive attacks and not to actions taken in self-defence.
Shortly before Trump's post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the ceasefire in Lebanon “at the request of my friend President Trump,” but that the campaign against Hezbollah is not complete.
He claimed Israel had destroyed about 90 per cent of Hezbollah's missile and rocket stockpiles and added that Israeli forces “have not finished yet” with the dismantling of the group.
In Beirut, displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs despite warnings by officials not to return to their homes until it became clear whether the ceasefire would hold.
The Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon reported sporadic artillery shelling in some parts of southern Lebanon in the hours after the ceasefire took effect.
An end to Israel's war with Hezbollah was a key demand of Iranian negotiators, who previously accused Israel of breaking last week's ceasefire with strikes on Lebanon. Israel had said that the deal did not cover Lebanon.
The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen US service members have also been killed.
