Prime Minister Narendra Modi disbursed on Monday around ₹10,000 crore Bank loans and Capitalisation Support Fund to Self Help Groups (SHGs) and appealed them to come forward in implementation of PM Suryaghar Muft Bijli Yojana.
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“I have directed the government that wherever members of SHGs take initiative to promote PM Suryaghar scheme, they should be given priority,” Modi said at an event titled “Sashakt Nari - Viksit Bharat”, held at the capital’s National Agricultural Science Complex (NASC). Under PM Suryaghar, low-income groups consuming up to 240 units will avail free electricity with a 100 per cent subsidy on installation. However, some amount has to be spent on installation if more than two panels are installed.
During the programme, the Prime Minister handed over drones to 1,000 Namo Drone Didis (women drone pilots). Modi also disbursed around ₹8,000 crore loans to SHGs at subsidised interest rates through Bank Linkage Camps set up by Banks in each district. Besides, about ₹2,000 crore capitalisation support fund was also disbursed to SHGs.
Interacting with a few select beneficiaries, the Prime Minister said that he gets new ideas whenever he talks to people and he sees immense potential in women’s power, which was also on display in the Republic Day parade this year. The potential was not recognised by earlier governments before 2014, he claimed.
‘New chapters of success’
Stressing that Drone Didis and Lakhpati Didis are scripting new chapters of success, Modi praised the determination and persistence of the Nari Shakti. “This gave me the confidence to embark on the journey of creating 3 crore lakhpati Didis,” he said and added that over 1 crore women have already become ‘Lakhpati Didis’, so far. “Any society can progress only through creating opportunities and ensuring the dignity of the Nari Shakti,” the Prime Minister said.
Modi also said that he is the first Prime Minister of the country who spoke from the ramparts of the Red Fort (on Independence Day) about issues like toilets for women, sanitary pads, unhealthy smoky kitchens, piped water connection to home, bank account for each woman. He further said that he is the first Prime Minister to speak from the Red Fort against derogatory language for women and need for family to question male members too whenever they return late at night.
“Modi’s sensitivities and Modi’s schemes have emerged from the experiences rooted in everyday life”, PM Modi said. Experience as lived the realities of life has informed these sensitivities and schemes, he said. That is why, these schemes bring ease of life for the mothers and daughters of the country.
Drone technology expansion
He also said that the transformative influence of drone technology in agriculture is being steered by women of the nation. Modi said that he foresees the expansion of drone technology in areas such as transporting milk and vegetable products to the market, medicine delivery.
The prime minister also said that his third term will write a new chapter in the rise of women power, exuding confidence of retaining power in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. He said women’s lives and hardships were not a priority for previous governments (before he assumed power in 2014). He said that the Congress made fun of him and insulted him for speaking in favour of women empowerment. Those politicians are only concerned about their families and will never understand this, he said.
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Asserting that what he saw at his home, in his neighbourhood and villages during his stays have shaped “his sensibilities and his schemes” for women, he said more than ₹8 lakh crore has been disbursed among women under various government schemes.
Union Ministers Arjun Munda, Mansukh Mandaviya and Giriraj Singh were among those present on the occasion.