Women SHGs To Get Rs 8 lakh Subsidy Under new Drone Didi Scheme

Under the central government’s new Drone Didi scheme, drones will be given to around 3,000 women self-help groups (SHGs) across several states under which women groups will get subsidy worth Rs 8 lakh.

To avail the benefits under this scheme, SHGs will have to complete all their necessary documents. Under the scheme, a total of 14,500 SHGs across the country will be given drones.

According to the Agriculture Ministry, the draft of the scheme is ready. A total of 3,000 drones will be distributed in the last three months of this year. By the end of this month, instructions related to this will be shared with the states, following which the process will start.

According to the selection criteria, the SHGs of Uttar Pradesh will be given the maximum number of drones, followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka.

The criteria for selection of states under this scheme have been fixed on the basis of highest cultivable land, active SHGs and high usage of nano fertilizers.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the likely cost of a drone package will be around Rs 10 lakh. Under the scheme, SHGs will get a subsidy of Rs 8 lakh (80%) and a loan of Rs 2 lakh (20%) on a drone worth Rs 10 lakh. Currently, around 10 crore women across the country are part of SHGs.

The drone will have four additional batteries, charging hub, genset for charging and a drone box. The woman who would be flying the drone will be given training in data analysis and another woman would be trained for drone maintenance. The 15-days training will be included in the package. Women will be trained in different agricultural tasks which would be performed using drones. The drones provided under this scheme will be used for spraying nano fertilizers and pesticides.

The SHGs will be selected by the state committee. This committee will include scientists from Indian Agricultural Research Institute. The scheme will be implemented by Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) across the country. The first task under this scheme will be to identify the clusters that will be flying these drones. This work will start from next month.