PM Modi has a dream: To turn 2 crore women of self-help groups into ‘lakhpati’
Bhopal, December 27
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said he wished to turn two crore females associated with self-help groups (SHGs) in the country into ‘lakhpati’ women.
During an engaging virtual interaction with beneficiaries of various government programmes in Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh as part of the ongoing ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’, Modi sought the help of a woman in his endeavour.
“I want to make two crore women associated with self-help groups in the country into lakhpati women,” the PM said.
Modi turned to one Rubina Khan and asked her whether she would help him in his efforts. When specifically asked how many women from her group she wanted to turn into lakhpati, she replied, “I wish to make every woman in the country a lakhpati.”
Everyone present in the group burst into laughter when the PM quipped, “It is a political reply.”
Modi then asked the women present on the occasion to raise their hands if they wanted to become lakhpati, to which everyone responded in the affirmative.
The prime minister said he had a lot of work for them but they had to support him in such initiatives, to which all of them replied in unison that they would work to realise his dreams.
Rubina said she would like to extend good wishes to the PM on behalf of “1.03 lakh women” associated with self-help groups under the Aajeevika mission, a rural livelihood programme, to which Modi expressed surprise and asked her to repeat the number she was mentioning.
She also shared with the prime minister that after getting associated with an SHG, she took a loan of Rs 5,000 from their society and started selling clothes from her house as well as along with her husband on a motorcycle.
When her work expanded, Rubina narrated, she and her husband decided to buy a second-hand Maruti van, once again surprising Modi and prompting him to ask her to repeat the vehicle she had bought.
“You own a Maruti van while I don’t even have a bicycle,” he said, sending the women in the group to another round of laughter.
Rubina said her business had grown and she had taken a shop in Dewas district and is doing well now.
She also informed Modi that as a “Cluster Resource Person (CRP)” she and the women in her group are receiving information about various welfare schemes and they are availing benefits of those by forming SHGs in 40 villages of the district.
Referring to the Covid-19 period, Rubina said that after initial resistance, the women in her group decided to make masks, sanitisers and kits to deal with the deadly virus and each of them had earned Rs 60,000 to Rs 70,000 from that activity.
With such work, she said, they had not only served the nation but also found a way of earning during difficult times.
The prime minister also asked Rubina about her children and whether they are studying, to which she said her two daughters had studied till Class 10 and she also had a son. Modi advised her to make her daughters study further.
Rubina informed the PM that she had brought a Tavera vehicle for her unemployed son.
The woman informed the prime minister that a team of bank officials visited their villages to inform them about the welfare schemes of the government.
Modi also praised Rubina for her confidence and said that “this self-confidence of women only will turn the country into ‘atmanirbhar’ (self-dependent)”.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav also virtually joined the event from Bhopal.
