Srinagar, Sep 14: To promote door to door digital banking and financial services in remote areas of the UT, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Tuesday launched Mission ‘One Gram Panchayat-One DIGI-Pay Sakhi' in the UT, here at Jammu & Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute, Pampore.
Initially, the DIGI-Pay facility will be provided in 2000 remote villages of the UT and in the first phase, 80 women from Self Help Groups from across the Jammu and Kashmir Division have been selected as DIGI-Pay Sakhis.
On the occasion, the Lt Governor distributed 80 Aadhaar Enabled Payment Systems (AEPs) among the DIGI-Pay Sakhis under JKRLM. He also inaugurated a week-long training program for Krishi Sakhis and Pashu Sakhis on sustainable agriculture and livestock management. Terming Nari Shakti's social and economic independence as the bedrock of any nation's progress, the Lt Governor said that the J&K government has started a mass movement for the socio-economic upliftment of women across the UT.
“These three new initiatives of Digi-Pay, Krishi, and Pashu Sakhi, besides several other programs of women empowerment such as Hausla, Tejaswini, UMEED, Rise Together will further accelerate efforts of J&K government in Empowering Women and making them key partner in UT's development journey,” he added.
The Lt Governor outlined that DIGI-Pay Sakhi has introduced financial inclusion within the UT's Self Help Group (SHG) ecosystem, creating much needed financial access points with greater transparency even in the remotest of the areas.
Apart from depositing money, the village population can also avail the benefits of the additional banking and financial services such as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maandhan Yojana, registration of Kisan Credit Card etc, the Lt Governor added.
Lt Governor said the initiatives like Krishi Sakhi and Pashu Sakhi will go a long way in empowering our women in agriculture and the allied sector.
Asserting that the development of a family, society, region, country, world and humanity is incomplete without women empowerment, the Lt Governor said that the UT the administration is taking several ground-breaking steps to transform the lives of women of Jammu and Kashmir, especially those living in rural areas by engaging them into gainful livelihood interventions.
The Lt Governor also announced that a first of its kind, Women Industrial Estate will come up at Udhampur Industrial Estate, further strengthening the Women Entrepreneurs Ecosystem in J&K.
With increasing female literacy rate; providing access to quality education; encouraging more and more women to become entrepreneurs, and providing financial support for the upliftment of women, J&K is leading by an example in terms of women empowerment, he added.
On the occasion, the Lt Governor directed the Rural Livelihoods Mission, J&K to train DIGI-Pay Sakhis in 360° financial services training courses run by BSE in J&K.
He urged the DIGI-Pay Sakhis to spread awareness among rural women to avail maximum benefits of various central and UT schemes. He said that the Digi-Pay Sakhis will have a key role in giving wings to the dreams of rural women in becoming independent and progressive women.
