Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Tuesday, announced schemes for artisans — Vishwakarma Yojana — with an allocation of around ₹13,000 crore to ₹15,000 crore to help skill development among youth who are engaged in traditional artisan works. Mr. Modi also promised drones for women self-help groups (SHGs) so that it could be used for agricultural works.
Mr. Modi said ‘Vishwakarma Yojana’, is planned to benefit individuals skilled in traditional craftsmanship. “In the days to come, we will launch a scheme on the occasion of Vishwakarma Jayanti, benefiting individuals skilled in traditional craftsmanship, particularly from the OBC community. Weavers, goldsmiths, blacksmiths, laundry workers, barbers, and such families will be empowered through the ‘Vishwakarma Yojana’, which will begin with an allocation of around ₹13,000 crore to ₹15,000 crore,” he said.
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He added that Centre’s schemes have aided 13.5 crore people to rise above the hardships of poverty. He said ₹50,000 crore was allocated to street vendors through the PM SVANidhi scheme and ₹2.5 lakh crore was directly deposited into the accounts of farmers through the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi.
Mr. Modi said the Centre is working with women’s SHGs with the aim of creating two crore ‘lakhpati didis’ in villages. He said that 15,000 women’s SHGs would be given loan and training for operating and repairing drones. “We will give skill training to women and train them to operate as well as repair drones. The government will provide drones to thousands of such women SHGs. We will initiate making drone services available for our agricultural work. To begin with, we will start building 15,000 Women SHGs which will give flight to the dream of enabling a robust drone training mission,” he said.
The Opposition, however, was not amused by these promises. CPI general secretary D. Raja said PM’s speech was like an election speech. “What is this culture of Modi’s guarantee? The speech was full of rhetoric,” Mr. Raja said.
