Hyderabad: Telangana and Andhra Pradesh together have over 22 lakh ‘lakhpati didis’ thanks to the self-help groups. As stated in a parliamentary reply from the Centre, both states rank among the top three in terms of the number of drones supplied under the Namo Drone Didi Scheme.
To a question posed by Bhongir Congress MP Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy, the Centre said that AP has the highest number of lakhpati didis at 14.97 lakh, while Telangana has 7.58 lakh lakhpati women. Both states together have the highest number of lakhpati didis in the country. As a single entity, AP is followed by Bihar (13.47 lakh) and West Bengal (11.81 lakh) lakhpati didis.
According to the reply, Deendayal Antodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) is a centrally sponsored scheme of the ministry of rural development. This is being implemented across the country (except Delhi and Chandigarh) with the objective to alleviate rural poverty by organising the rural poor women into SHGs.
“A structured approach has been adopted to make the SGG members lakhpatis, so that they earn a minimum income of Rs 1 lakh per year on a sustainable basis,” the Centre said in its reply.
Saying that impact assessment of this initiative is being done, the Centre spoke about the possible outcomes, including an increase in income by 19% over the base amount, a decline in the share of informal loans by 20%, an increase in savings by 28%, and improved labour force participation.
Interestingly, both Telangana and AP have the highest number of drones supplied under the Namo Drone Didi Scheme. AP, with the highest number of 92 drones, is followed by Karnataka (84) and Telangana (72).
