"MUKTA”: STATE LEVEL EMPOWERING MSGS

Bhubaneswar(13/02/2024): Laxmipriya Raut, Baisakhi Mahasangha, Bhubaneswar, says, “Our Mahasangha has constructed the park under “MUKTA” after receiving the work order from the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) as the implementing agency.

Now we have created our own unique identity “We all know that as we cleared this area which was an inaccessible, abandoned place with bushes all around.

With the help of BMC engineers, we got to know about the layout design of the park, what materials are required for construction, the quantity and quality of construction materials required and how many workers will be employed. Initially, it was difficult to understand, but we started and gradually we took charge of the entire construction and supervision work and managed to execute it smoothly.

She further says, "When we completed the construction of this park, see people starting from children to old using it every day gives us great pleasure”. It is worth mentioning that during the Covid-19 epidemic, thousands of poor, unskilled workers, people from vulnerable groups and migrant workers, women, children, disabled people living in the urban areas of Odisha lost their lives and faced deep financial problems.

Against this backdrop, Chief Minister launched a ground-breaking initiative called "Urban Wage Based Employment" in April, 2020, aimed at creating rapid and widespread employment opportunities for the urban poor, unskilled and migrant workers. Based on the success of this initiative and achieving great success with enthusiasm from the grassroots level, it has been transformed into a full-fledged scheme named "Mukhyamantri Karma Tatpara Abhiyan" (MUKTA) by the Chief Minister in February 2021.

It is a flagship or excellence program of Odisha Government.

This people-centred plan is run by the group, for the group and by the group. More than 2,2500 Mission Shakti Self Help Groups have been issued work orders under Mukta scheme.

So far, 52500 projects under this scheme have been completed and 76 lakh man-days have been generated. Department of Housing and Urban Development launched a state-wide skill development training program from January 2024 for the Mission Shakti Self Help Groups in order to empower them for successful implementation of the release scheme and the need for better knowledge on project construction. In the first phase, 115 municipalities have been divided into 12 clusters and about 800 master trainers have been created through a comprehensive training program.

The Master Trainers were selected from among Mission Shakti Self Help Group members who had successfully implemented the project under MUKTA in the past. A training module has been specially designed and developed by UMC as the knowledge partner of the Department of Housing and Urban Development based on the needs of the Mission drive Self Help Groups to thoroughly train them on implementation, documentation, digital literacy and communication skills. This training module contains a detailed Trainers Guide system to guide the trainees which will help the Master Trainers to understand the technical issues and help in imparting accurate and complete messages to the trainee Mission Shakti Self Help Groups implementing the free projects across the state. Training of Mission Shakti Self Help Groups is being organized by Master Trainers at ward level.

Thirty members participate in each batch.

A total of 2055 ward-level training camps are planned to be organized by March 2024.

“So far in the first phase, 17,00 training programs have been completed and more than 35,000 Mission Shakti Self Help Group members have been trained by master trainers.

This capacity building program is empowering Mission Shakti Self Help Groups in the real world .

At least three members of each group will be thoroughly trained and empowered, creating an army of about 67,500 mission-strength self-supporting group leaders who can efficiently manage the program by coordinating "time and speed" implementation of the liberation. Housing and Urban Development Department Additional Secretary & Nodal Officer Sarada Prasad Panda interacting through virtual platform with Mission Shakti Group members participating in the on-going training program in multiple wards of the state.

Such direct interaction with senior officials helps bridge the last mile, reduces gaps and provides an opportunity for SHG groups to raise their voices and express their concerns and views, which in turn contributes to policy reforms. The scheme has undoubtedly sparked a movement, whereby vulnerable groups are empowered as mission-strength self-help groups to build urban infrastructure such as paver block roads, parks, public gyms, local area development.