Rural Development Minister Alamgir Alam said that so far about 35 lakh rural women in the State have become self-reliant by joining 2.79 lakh Self Help Groups (SHGs). He said that about 27 lakh Didi of the State have been linked to the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY). At the same time, 16.79 lakh Didis have been linked to the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY).
Alam said this while inaugurating the state level one-day orientation program of office bearers of cluster level organizations of rural women at Project Bhawan auditorium in Ranchi. Through this program, the Didis of Sakhi Mandal of the state were empowered and motivated to work for development in many social areas including increasing livelihood and income.
Appreciating the role of BC Sakhi in making banking facilities easier in the village, Alam said that till now 4647 BC Sakhi are providing door-to-door banking facilities in the panchayats. Focusing on the activities of livelihood promotion in the State, he said that 21 lakh rural women belonging to Sakhi Mandal have been linked with strong means of livelihood under which the Didis are becoming self-reliant by joining agriculture, animal husbandry, forest produce, and entrepreneurship.
Speaking on the occasion Rural Development Secretary, Manish Ranjan said that through this workshop, the officers of the cluster organization would be trained on the collection of village products, quality collection and preparation of clusters to market system. He said that the goal is to make the income of each didi of Sakhi Mandal from 10 thousand to 15 thousand. In this workshop, the Didis will also be brainstormed on better branding, packaging, and quality of Palash's products along with the tricks and benefits of the business plan.
On this occasion, JSLPS CEO Suraj Kumar said that the sisters of Sakhi Mandal are being trained to work in the district wise cluster approach. In the coming days, with this initiative, the didis will move on the path of self-reliance and their income will increase.
In the program, CGM NSBARD, Vinod Kumar shared information about various schemes of NABARD with the sisters of Sakhi Mandal. On the other hand, State Level Bankers Committee GM Subodh Kumar appealed to all the Didis to participate in the Mega Credit Camp to be organized on June 8.
In the technical session of the program, the office bearers of the cluster organization were trained on cluster approach, business plan, financial inclusion.
On this occasion more than 200 didis of Sankul Sangathan were present from different districts of the State. Additional Secretary Ram Kumar Sinha, Rural Development Department and other officials were also present in this workshop