‘Aajeevika’ making rural women self-reliant faster : Tomar

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines Narendra Singh Tomar on March 26, 2018, inaugurated the SARAS Aajeevika Mela 2018 here and said that the Aajeevika mission is bringing huge socio-economic transformation in the lives of rural women.

Welcoming all skilled artisans and Self Help Group (SHG) women from across the country to the SARAS Mela, Tomar stated that Ministry of Rural Development is committed to supporting the rural poor especially women members of Self Help Groups in improving their economic and social status.  Towards this end, the Ministry is implementing the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) which aims at making the rural women confident, aware and self-dependent, he said, according to a PIB release.

The SARAS Aajeevika Mela is an attempt to provide direct marketing platform to the rural women producers so that they get proper prices for their products by eliminating middle men, the Minister said. He also informed that the Ministry promotes rural haats for providing a platform for SHG women and other producers in the rural areas to sell their produce.  The Ministry is planning to set up 22,000 rural haats all over the country during  2018-19.

On this occasion, Tomar released two publications of DAY-NRLM programme (i) Self Help Group’s Directory, a list of SHGs participating in the SARAS Aajeevika Mela 2018 along with their products and their contact details; and (ii) Compendium of Enterprises of Rural Women, a collection of 32 success stories of individual and collective women led enterprises across the country.

Secretary Rural Development, Amarjeet Sinha said that out of 5 crore women associated with the scheme, about one and half crore have direct bank linkages. He also informed that the loan to Women Self-Help Groups have increased to Rs 63,000 crore from Rs 23,000 crore in 2014-15 and the non-performing asset (NPA) for this loan is mere 2.6 percent.

Sinha said that women from the hardcore naxal areas are coming forward to avail the benefits of the scheme and writing new stories of development like the e-rickshaw initiative of the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh.