Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Mahendra Singh Sisodia said that the State Government has once again taken a big step for women empowerment, withdrawing the operation of nutritious food plants from MP Agro and giving it to federations of women self-help groups formed under Livelihood Mission.

This important decision was taken in the Cabinet meeting. With this decision of the government, lakhs of group members of the State will be benefited by the profits made by preparing and supplying nutritious food in the State. The assurance to hand over this nutritious food plant to the women was given by the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in self-help group dialogue program on September 16 in Bhopal.

In Anganwadi centers operated under Integrated Child Development Scheme, the work of providing Take Home Ration (THR) to children between 6 months to 3 years, pregnant, lactating mothers and teenage girls under Kishori Balika Yojana was being done by MP Agro. This work was given to self-help groups in the year 2018-19 by setting up THR plants at Dewas, Dhar, Hoshangabad, Mandla, Sagar, Rewa and Shivpuri in the state. The work of THR delivery was done by them in the remaining districts of the state except Bhopal division. In January, 2020, the work of operation of THR plants was again handed over to MP Agro by the then government. Now the state government has taken a historic decision by giving the work of operation of nutritional food plant again to women self-help groups. With this initiative of the government,

Sisodia informed that the Madhya Pradesh State Rural Livelihood Mission under the department has formed about 3.33 lakh self-help groups in about 45,000 villages of the state to support the livelihood of about 38 lakh rural poor families and guidance and financial support is being given to strengthen and provide many livelihood opportunities. In this sequence, various efforts are being made by the government from time to time for women empowerment.

Group enterprises are being operated through confederations of groups such as village organizations, cluster level organizations. In this sequence, it has been decided to get the work of operation, management, production, delivery and financial control of nutritional food plants done by federations of women self-help groups formed under Madhya Pradesh State Livelihood Mission.