Didi Bagia Yojana, Jharkhand

Jharkhand government has come up with a unique scheme named ‘Didi Bagia Yojana’ for empowering rural women. Under this scheme women SHGs will be encouraged for becoming nursery entrepreneurs in the state. Technical help and training will be provided to the women for starting the nursery. This environment friendly scheme tends to produce saplings of various plants for plantation under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Women entrepreneurs under this scheme will also get paid (man-days) for work done by them in their own nurseries. Saplings can also be furthers sold to the government thereby generating additional revenue. This scheme will enable the women to become self-reliant thereby empowering them.

Overview:

Objectives & Benefits:

• The main objective of this scheme is to make rural women self-reliant and independent, thus improving their overall conditions
• It aims to increase the employ ability of rural women in the state
• This initiative would promote start-ups by women Self-Help Groups in the form of nursery entrepreneurs owning and operating their nurseries
• This will promote various employment and self-employment opportunities for women
• Training, Technical assistance and financial support will be provided by the state government
• Regular payment for the work done will be made to the women
• It aims at making the women Aatmanirbhar i.e., self-reliant and self-sufficient along with producing saplings for plantations under various governmental schemes for health environment.
• It also aims at improving the overall socio-economic welfare conditions of rural women in the state

Key Points:

• Didi Bagia Yojana is a scheme launched for encouraging rural women to become nursery entrepreneurs in the state
• This scheme will be implemented by Rural Development Department through convergence of MGNREGA and Jharkhand Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS)
• Scheme details were provided by JSLPS CEO, Nancy Sahay.
• Under this scheme the women SHGs will be provided with training and technical assistance for setting up and operating plant nurseries
• These nurseries will produce plants which will be used for plantation under various schemes in the state for green and healthy environment
• Women will be provided with man-days i.e.; they’ll get paid for the work done in their own nurseries
• The saplings produced by SHG women will be purchased for plantation directly under MGNREGA
• The saplings sold to the state government as per the price decided will provide additional income to the women
• For next one and a half years financial support will also be provided under MGNREGA to the women including materials, etc for starting the nurseries under this scheme
• Currently, 235 nurseries are already established under the scheme in different district in Jharkhand
• Each nursery has about 10,000-15,000 plants
• By next year these nurseries are expected to produce about 25 lakh saplings
• It will make the state self-reliant in saplings and there will be no need of importing the same from other states
• These saplings will be used for plantation under various schemes under MGNREAGA
• This initiative aims at making rural women self-reliant and independent thereby increasing their standard of living
• It will empower them thereby leading to socio-economic welfare in the long run