On the auspicious day of Dhanteras, Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Shri Giriraj Singh guided rural women on ways to increase their annual income beyond Rs 1 Lakh per annum. Terming this inspirational as well as aspirational ‘Mission Rs. 1 Lakh’, the Minister said it would prove a game-changing initiative in Rural Transformation.
Shri Giriraj Singh gave this mantra to the women at the interaction organised by MoRD’s Deen Dayal Antyoday Yojna – National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) with the Board of Directors of Women Producer companies on November 2nd, 2021 as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
Five producer enterprises were selected from the States of Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Bihar, Telangana and MP for the interaction. The enterprise that participated were ECOVAN Self Reliant Women Farmers Producer Company Limited, Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, Jhar Mahila Resham Producer Company limited, West Singhbhum, Jharkhand, Aranyak Agri Producer Company Limited, Purnia, Bihar, Be’ Nishan Women Producers Company, Hyderabad, Telangana, Saharia Mahila Laghu Vanopaj Producer company Limited, Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh.
The Minister listened patiently to the participants’ progress, stories, challenges and aspirations and guided the way forward. In the spirit of PM Shri Narendra Modi’s clarion call of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Shri Giriraj Singh motivated the team and said that it will not be enough that a few members of SHG would achieve a goal of income of Rs 1 lakh per annum. It must be achieved by all members of the group. To achieve the goal of ‘Aatmnirbhar Bharat’, the Minister guided the Didis that they must think about how can they increase their income, prepare plans and share it. Further, Central and State governments will help them realise it.
Lauding the progress of the DAY-NRLM Mission, the Minister said that in 2014, 2.35 Crore SHG members with a bank linkage of Rs 80,000 Crore associated with the mission and NPA was 9.5% at that time. He said now this figure has risen to 8 Crore women as SHG members with bank linkage of Rs 4 lakh crore and NPA of just 2.8.%. The minister said by the year 2022-24, the SHG fold would increase to 10 Crore members and an earning for them Rs 1 lakh per annum or beyond will realise better standards of living for them. The Minister lauded the confidence of the participants saying such an attitude is very encouraging in realising the dream of economically empowered women.
Interacting with the Didi’s, the Minister of State Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti thanked Shri Giriraj Singh for organising this interaction on Dhanteras and said it shows that the Government believes in the power of women as Laxmi and is committed to ensuring a better tomorrow for them through policies that can help get work round the year. The Minister gave examples of how value addition can be done by switching to products and processes that can be better marketed and converged with other government schemes.
Interacting with the BoD members, Minister of State Faggan Singh Kulaste said that it is the vision of PM that the self-respect of Women can be enhanced only through economic empowerment and the SHG turning into a movement will help realise it soon.
The meeting was attended by officers of NRLM and participating state’s SRLM also.
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APS/JK/IA
