Seeking to underline his government’s commitment to women’s empowerment at the grassroots level, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday will be Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, to transfer Rs 1000 crore to Self Help Groups benefiting around 16 Lakh women.

The Prime Minister’s visit to Prayagraj on 21 December and his participation in the women empowerment programme has been termed by the PMO as “a one of its kind programme that will be attended by over 2 lakh women.”

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The programme is being held as per Prime Minister Modi’s vision of the empowerment of women, esp at the grassroots level. He is scheduled to transfer Rs1000 crore to SHGs benefitting around 16 lakh women members besides the first month’s stipend to Business Correspondent-Sakhis and money to over one lakh beneficiaries of Mukhya Mantri Kanya Sumangala Scheme, a PMO note stated here.

Modi will layer lay the foundation stone of over 200 Supplementary Nutrition Manufacturing Units.

The Prime Minister’s event in Prayagraj is claimed to be attended by over 2 Lakh women. The event will take place in the afternoon at 1 pm.

The programme is being held as per the vision of the Prime Minister to empower women, especially at the grassroot level, by providing them with the necessary skills, incentives and resources.

In the endeavour to support women, the Prime Minister will transfer an amount of Rs 1000 crore in the bank account of Self Help Groups (SHGs), benefitting around 16 lakh women members of the SHGs. This transfer is being done under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM), with 80,000 SHGs receiving Community Investment Fund (CIF) of Rs 1.10 lakh per SHG and 60,000 SHGs receiving Revolving Fund of Rs. 15000 per SHG.

The programme will also witness the Prime Minister encouraging Business Correspondent-Sakhis (B.C.-Sakhis), by transferring Rs. 4000 as the first month’s stipend in the account of 20,000 B.C.-Sakhis. When B.C.-Sakhis commence their work as providers of doorstep financial services at grassroot level, they are paid a stipend of Rs 4000 for six months, so that they get stabilized in their work and then start earning through the commission on transactions.

During the programme, Modi will also be transferring a total amount of over 20 crore to more than 1 lakh beneficiaries under the Mukhya Mantri Kanya Sumangala Scheme. The Scheme provides conditional cash transfer to a girl child at different stages of her life.

According to a PMO note, the total transfer is Rs 15000 per beneficiary. The stages are at birth (Rs 2000), on completing one-year complete vaccination (Rs 1000), on admission in class–I (Rs 2000), On admission in class–VI (Rs 2000), on admission in class-IX (Rs 3000), on admission in any degree/ diploma course after passing class X or XII (Rs 5000).

The Prime Minister will later lay the foundation stone of 202 Supplementary Nutrition Manufacturing Units. These units are being funded by the Self Help Groups and will be constructed at the cost of about Rs 1 crore for one unit. These units will supply the Supplementary Nutrition under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) in 600 blocks of the state, the PMO note further added.