Tag Archives: Self Help Groups

Decades long wait will end, 8 wild African cheetahs from South Africa to arrive on Friday

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Sep 15 (IANS) After waiting for seven decades for the fastest moving wild animal cheetah, India will finally receive the first batch from South Africa by Friday afternoon. A special Jumbo Jet Boeing 747 plane, having all arrangements for specially housing eight cheetahs for 16 hours journey to Rajasthan capital Jaipur, landed in Namibia capital Windhoek on Thursday.

Officials in Madhya Pradesh forest department told IANS that the aircraft with the eight cheetahs, including five females and three males (among them two male siblings) will land in Jaipur on Friday. Thereafter, the fastest moving animals will be flown from Jaipur to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday morning, three to four hours before the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to arrive in Sheopur district for the memorable birthday.

Windhoek: An Indian aircraft touches down in the Land of the Brave to carry goodwill ambassadors to the Land of the Tiger, in Windhoek, Namibia on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022. The flight will receive cheetahs to be brought to Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park. PM Narendra Modi will be present in the park on Sept 17 for the reintroduction.

PM Modi will celebrate his 72nd birthday in style – by releasing the cheetahs into Kuno National Park. “A 10-feet high platform has been put up for the PM at Kuno National Park. Cheetahs will be housed in a six-foot cage below that platform. The PM will turn a lever to open the sliding gates of the cage and release the cheetahs in the enclosure created for them,” officials privy with the project said.

After releasing the cheetahs, PM Modi will address ‘Cheetah Mitras’ (friends of cheetahs surrounding villages). These Cheetah Mitras have been tasked with educating people living in some 45 villages near the national park, about how to handle the big cats, should any stray into their neighbourhood.

The cheetahs will be quarantined in a special enclosure for a month after being released in the Kuno National Park. Once the mandatory isolation is over, they will be moved to a larger enclosure for around three months, before being freed in the jungles of the 748 square km Park.

Besides releasing the cheetahs, the Prime Minister will also grace the women self-help groups Sammelan being organised at Karahal in the same Sheopur district. The Sammelan will be attended by women Self Help Group (SHG) members/community resource persons that are being promoted under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM).

During the programme, the Prime Minister will also be inaugurating four Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) skilling centres under PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana.

PM Narendra Modi to visit Madhya Pradesh on 17th September to release wild Cheetahs

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Madhya Pradesh on 17th September. At around 10:45 AM, Prime Minister will release Cheetahs in Kuno National Park. After that, at around 12 Noon, he will participate in SHG Sammelan with women SHG members/community resource persons at Karahal, Sheopur.

  • PM to release wild Cheetahs – which had become extinct from India – in Kuno National Park.
  • Cheetahs – brought from Namibia – are being introduced in India under Project Cheetah, which is world’s first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project.
  • Bringing Cheetahs back to India will help in the restoration of open forest and grassland ecosystems and also lead to enhanced livelihood opportunities for the local community.
  • In line with the Prime Minister’s commitment towards environment protection and wildlife conservation.
  • Prime Minister to participate in SHG Sammelan at Karahal, Sheopur.
  • Thousands of women SHG members/community resource persons to attend the Sammelan.
  • PM to also inaugurate four Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups skilling centres under PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana.

PM at Kuno National Park

The release of wild Cheetahs by the Prime Minister in Kuno National Park is part of his efforts to revitalise and diversify India’s wildlife and its habitat. Cheetah was declared extinct from India in 1952. The Cheetahs that would be released are from Namibia and have been brought under an MoU signed earlier this year. The introduction of Cheetah in India is being done under Project Cheetah, which is world’s first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project.

Cheetah

Cheetahs will help in the restoration of open forest and grassland ecosystems in India. This will help conserve biodiversity and enhance the ecosystem services like water security, carbon sequestration and soil moisture conservation, benefiting the society at large. This effort, in line with the Prime Minister’s commitment towards environment protection and wildlife conservation, will also lead to enhanced livelihood opportunities for the local community through eco-development and ecotourism activities.

Kuno national park

PM at SHG Sammelan

Prime Minister will participate in the SHG Sammelan being organised at Karahal, Sheopur. The Sammelan will witness the attendance of thousands of women Self Help Group (SHG) members/community resource persons that are being promoted under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM).

During the programme, Prime Minister will also be inaugurating four Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) skilling centres under PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana.

DAY-NRLM aims at mobilising rural poor households into SHGs in a phased manner and provide them long-term support to diversify their livelihoods, improve their incomes and quality of life. The Mission is also working towards empowering the women SHG members through awareness generation and behaviour change communication on issues like domestic violence, women’s education and other gender related concerns, nutrition, sanitation, health etc.

Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana (AGEY) to be Launched

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The Government of India has decided to launch a new sub-scheme named “Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana (AGEY)” as part of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM). The Self Help Groups under DAY-NRLM will operate road transport service in backward areas. This will help to provide safe, affordable and community monitored rural transport services to connect remote villages with key services and amenities (such as access to markets, education and health) for the overall economic development of backward rural areas. This will also provide an additional avenue of livelihood for SHGs. The basic outline of AGEY was discussed in a meeting of State Transport Ministers of 13 States held in June 2016 at Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh and all the Transport Ministers had expressed their appreciation of this initiative.

The Community Investment Fund (CIF) provided to Community Based Organization (CBOs) under DAY-NRLM will be utilized to support the SHG members in this new livelihoods initiative. The beneficiary SHG member will be provided an interest free loan by the CBO from its Community Investment Fund upto Rs.6.50 lakh for purchase of the vehicle. Alternative, CBO will own the vehicle and lease it to an SHG member to operate the vehicle and pay lease rental to the CBO

AGEY will be initially implemented in 250 Blocks in the country on pilot basis with each Block provided upto 6 vehicles to operate the transport services. During the current year implementation of the scheme has been so far approved for 52 Blocks in 8 States namely Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand and West Bengal with a total provision of Rs.16.06 Crore of which the Government of India share would be Rs.10.16 Crore. The balance funding would be provided by the respective States.

The Blocks will be selected by States from among the Blocks where NRLM is being implemented intensively and where mature CBOs are already functioning. Backwardness, lack of transportation links and sustainability of service would be the guiding factors in the selection of Blocks and routes.

The State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLMs) will do a feasibility study and traffic survey in the selected blocks to identity the routes and the number and capacity of vehicles which can be operated on sustainable basis. The study will be conducted by technically sound organizations with expertise in transport network planning. The choice of vehicle could be either e-riksha, 3 wheeler or 4 wheeler within a cost ceiling of Rs.6.50 lakh.

The SRLMs will be co-ordinating with State Transport Department for issue of permit for the vehicle. The SHG member operating the vehicle shall ensure that all necessary legal and statutory requirement such as valid permit, road tax permit, valid insurance policy etc. are met.

The SHG member shall run the vehicle on approved routes at pre-determined frequency as jointly agreed between the CBO and the SHG operator based on financial viability and the need for transport link.

All vehicles under the scheme shall have a defined colour code and carry AGEY branding to ensure their identity and avoid diversion to other routes.

The State Rural Livelihood Mission will arrange capacity building for their staff at State, District and Block levels for operating the Scheme. The members of the CBO and the beneficiary SHG member shall also be provided adequate training in the Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) and other partner organizations.