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Time of India
24-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
‘Vidyut sakhis' collect all-time high of Rs 169 crore in two months
Lucknow: Women engaged under the UP state rural livelihood mission (UPSRLM) are 'powering' their way to livelihood. Trained as 'vidyut sakhis', these women have managed to collect electricity bill payments of over Rs 169 crore from consumers in the first two months of the ongoing 2025-26 fiscal year — an all-time high since the inception of the programme in 2020. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now This is, in fact, double the amount collected in 2021-22 when vidyut sakhis collected Rs 87 crore in the entire financial year. The 'Vidyut Sakhi' initiative empowers rural women by training them to collect electricity bill payments directly from consumers. Rural development department data shows that between 2021-22 and 2024-25, more than Rs 2,000 crore was collected by vidyut sakhis. Data shows that the electricity bill payment collection almost doubled every financial year — from Rs 87 crore in 2021-22, it jumped to Rs 262 crore in 2022-23, to Rs 466 crore in 2023-24, and eventually to Rs 1,045 crore in 2024-25. As many as 14,105 'vidyut sakhis' in UP together received a commission of over Rs 26 crore in the last five years. Of this, a commission of over Rs 13 crore was earned by them in 2024-25 alone. In rural areas, vidyut sakhis get a commission of Rs 20 per transaction on full payment by the consumer up to Rs 1,999 and 1% of the bill amount from Rs 2,000 to Rs 1,99,999. A key milestone of the scheme is the financial empowerment of women — as many as 438 women have been categorised as 'Lakhpati Didi', a term coined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to describe women whose earnings went above Rs 1 lakh in a single year. Besides this, vidyut sakhis also collected electricity bills worth Rs 369 crore under the one time settlement (OTS) scheme.
Time of India
24-04-2025
- General
- Time of India
An all-women brick unit to end gender inequality in real estate
1 2 Lucknow: A group of 30 women in Lucknow's backyard are working hard to create UP's first all-woman unit that will manufacture high-strength green concrete eco-bricks . The initiative, called Nirman by Women, is led by a private company named Ventura Prefab with the support of the State Rural Livelihood Mission (UPSRLM). It is also an effort to challenge gender inequality in India's real estate and construction sector. This is significant considering that the presence of women in India's real estate and construction sector stands at an abysmal 12%, and that too in secondary roles with lower wages. However, in this pilot, women are being trained in primary jobs such as machine operation, batch mixing, and concrete moulding, among others, which were traditionally meant for men. Chief Secretary UP, Manoj Kumar Singh, along with senior officials from the UPSRLM, visited the factory on Thursday. An interaction with the trainee women brought to the fore stories of grit and awe. Poonam Sharma, a woman in her mid-20s, carried her six-month-old daughter to start a new life, away from her alcohol-addict husband. "I am a victim of a patriarchal mindset and gender bias, but I don't want my daughter to inherit the same fate. This training came as an opportunity to me, and I availed it to carve my individual and independent identity," said the woman, whose aunt takes care of the baby when she is working in the factory. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Trade Bitcoin & Ethereum – No Wallet Needed! IC Markets Start Now Undo Manta Devi of Chak Prithvirajpur village rebelled against her husband and in-laws to learn the skill. "Work guarantees the flow of money, not lamentations," remarked the lean and thin woman. Kavita Bhatnagar, who is associated with the training, informed that it took a lot of effort to convince the women to join the programme. "There were all kinds of barriers. Many women had no confidence; others felt that they weren't as strong as men. Several interactions with the women through self-help group lead ladies helped to iron out the doubts," she recalled. But there were women who saw the opportunity as a chance to chase their dream of financial self-reliance. Akanksha Singh, an 18-year-old girl awaiting her board result, is a case in point. "My father is a cancer patient. We sold off our land for his treatment. My financial independence is necessary to lessen the burden on my family," she said, hoping to launch a start-up of her own through various entrepreneurial schemes of the state govt. Rajani Devi of Khasrawa village wants a better future for her children and is aware that the single income of her husband can never ensure the continuity of education. Avadheesh Srivastava, who holds a master's degree in civil engineering and is training these women, was both shocked and amazed upon meeting his 'students'. His first realisation was that they had very limited foundational understanding of science while their minds were full of questions that were never answered. Machine handler and trainer Kuldeep said, "Women are naturally gritty, and this lot proved it to me. They were not scared to try anything. The moment they understood the science behind the machine, they took control of it and practised it till perfection." Mother of this initiative, Rashmi Sinha, who has worked closely on women's issues in various places, including the United Nations, said that the training would end in a few weeks, but the journey of change has just begun.
