J&K has over 43,000 Lakhpati Didis: GoI

Srinagar, Dec 3: The Government of India on Tuesday informed the House that Jammu and Kashmir has a total of 43,050 Lakhpati Didis.
The figures were revealed through a written reply by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development, Dr. Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani.
In a written reply, he said that the Lakhpati Didi initiative is one of the outcomes of DAY-NRLM. A structured approach has been adopted to make SHG members “Lakhpati,” i.e., to ensure they earn a minimum income of Rs 1 lakh per year on a sustainable basis.
He said that the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) is a centrally sponsored scheme of the Ministry of Rural Development.
“It is being implemented across the country (except Delhi and Chandigarh) with the objective of alleviating rural poverty, primarily by organizing rural poor women into Self Help Groups (SHGs) and continuously nurturing and supporting them. The aim is to help them achieve a significant increase in income over time, improve their quality of life, and lift them out of abject poverty,” the Minster said.
He said that the NAMO Drone Didi Scheme of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare aims to provide drones to 15,000 SHG members under DAY-NRLM from 2023-24 to 2025-26. “In 2023-24, fertilizer companies, using their own resources, distributed 503 drones to SHG members,” he said.
“Under DAY-NRLM, 10.05 crore women have been mobilized into 90.87 lakh SHGs as of October 2024. DAY-NRLM is a process-driven program where various benefits, such as Revolving Fund, Community Investment Fund, and Bank Linkage, are extended to SHGs based on their eligibility and requirements,” he added.
“The Ministry has commissioned impact evaluation studies to assess the financial independence of SHG women through interventions under DAY-NRLM. An impact evaluation study of DAY-NRLM was conducted in 2019-20 by the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, with support from the World Bank,” he said. (KNO)