Prime Minister Narendra Modi today held 'Svanidhi Samvaad' with street vendors from Madhya Pradesh through video conferencing.<br />'' <br />'' Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister praised the efforts of the street vendors to bounce back and appreciated their self – confidence, perseverance and hard work. He said any calamity first affects the poor impacting their jobs, food and savings. He referred to the tough times when most of the poor migrants had to return to the villages.<br />'' <br />'' Mr.  Modi said the Government right from the first day tried to obliterate the difficulties faced by the poor and the lower middle class owing to the lockdown and the impact of the pandemic. He said the Government made all efforts to provide food, ration, free gas cylinders apart from employment through the Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan the country, but the work done for the poor in the last 6 years has unprecedented.<br />'' <br />'' Announcing to provide digital benefits to the street vendors, the Prime Minister said that an online delivery facility is also being considered for the street vendors. A new beginning has been made in collaboration with banks and digital payment facilitators to ensure that  street vendors do not lag behind in digital shop keeping.<br />'' <br />'' The Prime Minister said the beneficiaries of the PM Svanidhi Scheme would get access to the Ujjwala gas and Ayushman Bharat schemes on priority basis. He said the aim of the Svanidhi yojana is to provide Swarozgar, Svavlamban and Swabhimaan (Self Employment, Self-Sustenance and Self-Confidence) to the Street Vendors.<br />'' <br />'' This scheme gives upto 7 percent rebate on the interest and if one repays the money taken from the bank within 1 year, then one will get an interest rebate. In digital transactions there is a cash back also. In this way, total savings will be more than the total interest. The scheme helps one get rid of interest completely. Under this scheme, interest rebate of up to 7% is being given anyway.<br />'' <br />'' The Prime Minister appreciated the efforts of Madhya Pradesh Government for identifying more than 4.5 Lakh Street Vendors and completing the process to give loans to over a 1 Lakh vendors within 2 months, notwithstanding the effect of the pandemic.<br />'' <br />'' Applications of 2.45 lakh eligible beneficiaries of the scheme have been presented through the portal to banks for credit facility, out of which acceptance has been granted to around 1.4 lakh street vendors of amount worth Rs 140 crore. <br />''