In an attempt to reach out to the economically marginalised and socially backward community before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday announced two new initiatives — Vishwakarma Yojana, a new scheme with an outlay of Rs 13,000 crore to Rs 15000 crore, and Lakhpati Didi, under which skill training will be provided to two crore women so that they can earn at least Rs 1 lakh annually. Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the 77th Independence Day, the prime minister said he has taken forward the issue of women-led development in G-20, where it has received a lot of support. “Today, we are working on women self-help groups with the aim of creating two crore Lakhpati Didis. We, while promoting the potential of our women power, women-led development and when I have taken forward the issues of women-led development in G-20, the whole G-20 group is accepting its importance, and giving it a lot of support,” Modi said, underlining the importance of women-led development. “Today 10 crore women are associated with Women Self Help Groups and if you go to a village, you will find women working with banks, you will find women working in Anganwadi, you will find women who give medicines. Now my dream is to create 2 crore Lakhpati Didis (women with annual earnings of Rs 1 lakh and more),” PM Modi added. To make two crore Lakhpati Didis, a new alternative in the form of science and technology will be used, Modi said, adding that they will impart drone pilot training to women so that technology can be brought into the agriculture sector. “We will impart training to operate drones, repair drones and the Government of India will provide drones to thousands of such Women Self Help Groups, they will provide training and we will start to make drone services available for our agricultural work, initially we will start with drone flights by 15 thousand Women Self Help Groups,” PM Modi said. On this occasion, the prime minister also announced a new scheme — Vishwakarma Yojana — with an outlay of Rs 13,000 crore to Rs 15,000 crore for people having traditional skills. “In the coming days, we will launch a program on the coming Vishwakarma Jayanti. On this Vishwakarma Jayanti, we will give about Rs 13,000-15,000 crore to the people who live with traditional skills, who work with tools and with their own hands, mostly from the OBC community. Be it our carpenters, our goldsmiths, our masons, our laundry workers, our barber brothers, and sisters…” PM Modi said. Commenting on the prime minister’s announcement of providing drone pilot training to the members of Women Self Help Groups, Deepak Bhardwaj, co-founder and director, IoTechWorld Avigation, one of India’s leading agri-drone manufacturers, said, “The announcement of Hon’ble Prime Minister to provide drones to 15,000 Women Self Help Groups, train them to fly and repair, will revolutionize India’s agriculture landscape and will give more power to women which is key for the growth of our nation. It is likely to speed up adoption of drone technology in the field of agriculture and will lead to substantial employment generation and agribusiness opportunities in rural areas.”
