Government to provide drones to Women self-help groups

The Government of India has recently launched Central Sector Scheme for providing drones to the Women Self Help Groups (WSHGs). The scheme aims to provide drones to 15,000 selected Women SHGs for providing rental services to farmers for agriculture purpose (application of fertilizers and pesticides).

WSHG with “A” grade as per the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana (DAY-NRLM) guidelines will be selected for providing drones. These Grade ‘A’ WSHGs will be selected by the States from the clusters of villages growing the commercial crops like chilies, cotton, paddy, wheat, orchards, and plantations etc.

A budget of ₹1,261 crores has been allocated for the project aiming to distribute one Drone to each of the 15,000 identified WSHGs over a three-year period from 2023-24 to 2025-26.

This information was given by the Union Minister of State for Rural Development, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in a written reply in Lok Sabha.