Haryana’s First ‘Drone Didis’

• 13 Mar 2024

Why in News?

Recently, Sharmila and Himanshi, have become Haryana’s first ‘Drone Didis’. They inspire other women and girls while empowering rural communities through their contribution to agriculture.

Key Points

• Drone Didis initiative was launched by the PM on November 30, 2023 after his interaction with women beneficiaries of the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra.
• It aims to provide drones to 15,000 women Self Help Groups (SHGs) in the next two years to be rented out to farmers for agricultural purposes.
  • The women beneficiaries are trained to become drone pilots under the initiative.
  • The trained women drone pilots will help farmers in various agricultural operations like fertiliser spraying, sowing seeds and crop monitoring. This will help rural women generate income by utilising their skills.
  • The initiative intends to modernise Indian agricultural practices and enhance productivity by placing cutting-edge technology at the disposal of rural women.
• The scheme will cover 15,000 women SHGs, to be identified from among 89 lakh SHGs formed under the Centre’s Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana, and will provide them a sustainable business model and livelihood support.
• The Centre will provide each SHG identified a subsidy up to 80% towards the cost of a drone or a maximum of Rs 8 lakh. It is expected to generate an additional income of about Rs 1 lakh per head for them.

Self-Help Groups (SHGs)

• These are informal associations of people who choose to come together to find ways to improve their living conditions.
• The genesis of SHG in India can be traced to the formation of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in 1970.
• The SHG Bank Linkage Project launched by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in 1992 has blossomed into the world’s largest microfinance project.
• NABARD alongwith RBI permitted SHGs to have a savings account in banks from the year of 1993. This action gave a considerable boost to the SHG movement and paved the way for the SHG-Bank linkage program.
• In 1999, Government of India, introduced Swarn Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) to promote self-employment in rural areas through formation and skilling of SHGs.
• The programme evolved as a national movement in 2011 and became National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) – world’s largest poverty alleviation programme.
• Today, State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLMs) are operational in 29 states and 5 UTs (except Delhi and Chandigarh).
• NRLM facilitated universal access to the affordable cost-effective reliable financial services to the poor like financial literacy, bank account, savings, credit, insurance, remittance, pension and counselling on financial services.

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Livelihoods Mission (NRLM)

• It was launched by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India in 2011.
• The Mission aims at creating efficient and effective institutional platforms for the rural poor enabling them to increase household income through sustainable livelihood enhancements and improved access to financial services.
• It lays special emphasis on targeting the poorest of the poor and the most vulnerable communities and their financial inclusion.
• It provides for mutually beneficial working relationships and formal platforms for consultations between Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Community Based Organisations (CBOs).