The Uttar Pradesh government plans to train over three million rural women affiliated with self-help groups (SHGs) as micro agripreneurs in the next three years, with the goal of increasing their annual income to at least ₹1 lakh. In line with the National Rural Livelihood Mission, the UP State Rural Livelihood Mission is developing a thorough road plan to make 20 million ‘lakhpati Didis’. The development comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech, where he lauded the SHGs.
Previously, the state intended to enrol 1.5 million women SHG members in the initiative. According to a government official, nearly a million women SHG members in the state now earn more than ₹1 lakh each year. The plan is to increase the income of an additional two million women SHG members to more than ₹1 lakh in the next three years.
Following the first wave of the pandemic, 60,000 members of UP women SHGs were involved in producing improved types of sugarcane seeds. Farming, rural banking correspondents, take-home ration (THR) units, goat rearing, poultry, dairy, farmer producer organisation (FPO), livestock, fisheries and collecting forest produce are among the agricultural and related industries included in the micro agripreneur road map. The government will also encourage women to work for themselves by establishing agri-based microenterprises to enhance farm revenue and rural empowerment.