New Delhi:

Kalpana Chaudhari, an erstwhile common resident of Maharashtra’s Gondia district, is a popular name today.

Her fledgling business of lac bangles is making waves in her village as well as neighbouring ones and also motivating fellow women villagers to follow in her footsteps.

Her success story owes a lot to the women empowerment steps undertaken by the Adani Foundation via promotion of Self-Help Groups (SHGs).

Ms Chaudhari, a resident of Khairbodi village in Tiroda taluka, learnt the art of making lac bangles as part of the SHG facilitated by the Adani Foundation and then went to set up her own shop.

Today, she is running her own business of lac bangles and other cosmetic items, thus making herself financially independent and empowered. Her bangle business has given wings to her dreams and, today, she has become an inspiration for many other women who want to become independent like her.

Narrating her journey, she says the Adani Foundation inducted her into a project titled ‘Sangini’, where she learnt the art of making lac bangles and then, with their assistance and advice, opened her own shop.

Ms Chaudhari feels truly empowered today, as she not only runs her business but has also learnt other skills, including operating a computer and driving vehicles.

She says that her life has undergone a sea change and expressed gratitude to the Adani Foundation for all the assistance, including the monetary aid for her children’s education.

Kalpana Chaudhari is not the only woman in Maharashtra’s Tiroda to have seen a tremendous change of fortune. There are at least 45 other women, like Kalpana, who are part of SHGs associated with lac bangle-making units, facilitated by the Adani Foundation.

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A file photo of Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh 
| Photo Credit: PTI

At a time when the gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) of the public sector banks is at 5%, the corresponding figure for the loans taken by women Self-Help Groups (SHGs) is 1.6%, coming down from 9.58% in 2014. This significant cut in NPAs has been brought about by Business Correspondent (BC) Sakhis — women who provide doorstep banking services in rural areas.

Both BC Sakhis and Bank Sakhis are a gender-focused variant of the traditional Business Correspondent model. Women from SHGs, who have education till Class 10 at least, are given training and deployed in these positions. According to the Rural Development Ministry, there are around 1,22,915 BC Sakhis at present. The Ministry is however aiming to have at least one BC Sakhi in all of the around 2.5 lakh panchayats in the country, Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh said on Wednesday. Mr. Singh said these women had been instrumental in bringing down the NPA rates.

Nearly ₹6.96 lakh crore of bank credit has been accessed by the SHGs since 2013-14, according to the Ministry. “The governments prior to 2014 believed in handholding the SHGs, while the BJP government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes in sustainable livelihood,” Mr. Singh said.

Huge difference

The Minister said access to institutional finance, and waiver provided on interest had made a huge difference for the women in these SHGs, improving the repayment of loans taken by them.

According to figures available with the Ministry, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of 42,666 BC Sakhis, followed by Madhya Pradesh (10,850 BC Sakhis), and Rajasthan (10,559 BC Sakhis).

Under the National Rural Livelihood Mission, providing financial literacy to women had also been in focus, Mr. Singh said.

“Over 2.75 crore women have been trained in financial literacy,” Mr. Singh said. The Minister said these steps would consolidate the foundation for enabling women SHG members to earn over ₹1 lakh per year, for meeting the targets under the ‘Lakhpati Didi’ scheme announced by the government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the ‘Lakhpati Didi’ Scheme on August 15, 2023. Initially, the government’s target was enabling two crore women to earn ₹1 lakh per annum, which was revised in the Budget and the target was made three crore women.

The drones can be rented out to farmers for nano fertilizer and pesticide applications. Special arrangement photo for representation.

The Union Government will provide 15,000 progressive women self-help groups (SHG) with drones to be rented out to farmers for agricultural purposes. The drone services are envisaged to be used by the farmers for Nano fertilizer and pesticide applications.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur told the media on November 29.

It might be recalled that Mr. Modi had in his Independence Day speech announced a scheme for empowering women’s Self Help Groups with drone technology. The scheme would have a financial outlay of ₹1,261 crore for two years beginning 2024-25.

The self help groups would be identified from the total 89 lakh SHGs formed under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana, Mr. Thakur said adding that appropriate clusters where usage of drones is economically feasible will be identified following which the SHGs will be selected for providing drones.

The women’s groups would get a Central financial assistance at 80% of the cost of drone. The total expense of a drone and its accessories is about ₹10 lakh. About 80% of the cost or up to ₹8 lakh, will be provided by the Centre, the Minister said.

“Around 500 drones will be provided by fertilizer companies. The rest 14,500 drones will be made available through the Central assistance in the next two years,” he said. The drone pilot will get an honorarium of ₹15,000 and a co-pilot about ₹10,000.

A well qualified member of the SHG, aged 18 and above, will be elected for a 15-day training, comprising five-day mandatory drone pilot training and additional 10-day training for agriculture purpose of nutrient and pesticide application, while another member of the group will be selected for training as technician or assistant.

The scheme will help in infusing advance technology in agriculture for improved efficiency, enhance crop yield and reduced cost of operation for the benefit of farmers.

The approved initiatives under the scheme is expected to provide sustainable business and livelihood support to 15,000 SHGs and help them earn an additional income of at least ₹1 lakh per annum.