Agartala, Nov 25: Tripura Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Ratan Lal Nath said on Saturday that more than 83,000 women from rural Tripura who willingly joined the Self Help Group movement are earning more than Rs. 1 lakh annually. They had earned the moniker "Lakhpati Didi," the minister said while interacting with media persons.
Defending the state government against the allegations being heaped by the opposition parties, Nath said, “The opposition party leaders rarely pay visits to the rural areas. The change that has arrived since the BJP-IPFT government was installed in the state back in 2018 is unexpected. Over five lakh rural assets have been created in the last five and a half years through the MGNREGA scheme, which includes projects like roads, plantations, farms, etc.”
On the SHG movement in Tripura, Nath said, “The slogan of employment in each household was first raised by none other than our party. When the Left was in power, the total number of SHGs in Tripura stood at 19,000 and now that number has jumped to 51,254 with a membership strength of 4,66,853. The revolving funds that used to be somewhere near 31 crore and 80 lakh have been increased to 504 crore. Besides, the banks have also lent Rs 1,013 crore to the SHG women. We have plans to pump in Rs 400 crore more for the SHGs."
Stating that as many as 83,424 women are now earning more than rupees one lakh per year owing to the credit facilities, Nath said, “Out of this 83,000 women, 30,855 SHG members belong to Scheduled Tribe communities, 17,386 come from SC communities and the rest of the 35,183 are from general families. We have set a goal to induct 1.5 lakh women members of the SHG groups into the one lakh club by the end of this financial year."
