NEW DELHI: In an outreach to
women
at the grassroots ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday hailed ‘Drone Didis’, women trained to steer
drones
for improving
agricultural practices
, as a symbol of empowerment while handing over the unmanned aerial vehicles (
UAVs
) to 1,094 women from self help groups (SHGs) across the country trained to pilot them.
“I have full faith that
Nari Shakti
will lead the
technology revolution
in the country,” PM said while sharing a vision for the future where drone technology will expand to areas such as transportation of milk and vegetable products to the market and medicine delivery opening new avenues for women.
The PM had announced last year on Independence Day that a scheme would be launched to provide agri-drones to thousands of women-led self-help groups and they will be trained to fly as well as repair the UAVs. The SHGs can then offer them on rent to farmers for agriculture purposes like crop monitoring, spraying fertilisers and seed sowing boosting income opportunities for women.
During the programme the PM also disbursed around Rs 8,000 crore bank loans to SHGs at subsidised interest rate and released about Rs 2,000 crore capitalisation support fund to the groups. Hailing the women SHGs – 94 lakh groups with over 10 crore rural women – the PM also drew attention to the entrepreneurial prowess of women who are now joining the league of “Lakhpati Didis”, another scheme under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana -National Rural Livelihood Mission, that aims to equip three crore women from SHGs to earn a sustainable income of Rs 1 lakh per year.
The PM also witnessed agricultural drone demonstrations conducted by ‘Namo Drone Didis’ at Indian Agricultural Research Institute at Pusa Road and interacted with them and highlighted how the transformative influence of drone technology in agriculture is being steered by women. Modi was participating in a programme – ‘Sashakt Nari – Viksit Bharat’ in the capital that brought together women SHG members from across the country – they included the “Drone Didis” and “Lakhpati Didis”.
Describing the evolution of the SHG movement as “a big revolution” and its expansion over the past decade “remarkable”, the PM said that SHGs have “rewritten the narrative of women empowerment in the country.”
Modi set out the roadmap for a third term, exuding confidence of retaining power, and asserted that “women’s empowerment will touch a new high”. The PM said that he was the first Prime Minister who spoke from the ramparts of the Red Fort about issues of women empowerment like toilets for women, sanitary pads, unhealthy smoky kitchens, piped water to save the women daily inconvenience among other issues. “Each time I spoke from the Red Fort about your (womens) empowerment, unfortunately Congress and other political parties made fun of me and insulted me,” Modi alleged launching a scathing attack on the opposition. He further alleged that “it is unfortunate that earlier govts in the country did not pay attention to the challenges women face”.
Pointing out that his “empathy” and “schemes” are rooted in everyday life experiences the PM hit out at opponents saying, “Politicians who only think about their family and those who are ‘Parivaarvaadi’ (believers of nepotism) cannot understand this…..”
The PM also shared how his govt’s schemes have attempted to address a woman’s needs from the time she conceives a child. Modi said that not only has the govt focussed on expansion of SHGs but also facilitated the opening of bank accounts for 98% of these groups. “The assistance to such groups has been increased to Rs 20 lakh and more than Rs 8 lakh crore have been deposited to the accounts of such groups,” he added while sharing that the income of SHGs have increased three fold.
The Prime Minister also asked the SHGs to come forward and also take the lead in implementation of PM Suryaghar Muft Bijli Yojna – rooftop solar scheme for free electricity.