'Mann Ki Baat' encouraging self-help groups to move towards being micro-enterprises: Study

New Delhi [India], April 28 : National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (NIRDPR) has found in its study that Prime Minister Narendra Modi through his 'Mann Ki Baat' programme is showing the Self Help Groups (SHGs) the way to not just focus on savings, but also move towards being micro-enterprises.

The National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (NIRDPR) of Hyderabad has conducted a study on the impact of PM's Mann ki Baat initiative in two Rural Development Programs- SHG and Amrit Sarovar.

The findings of the study were bought out as a report titled 'In search of Excellence in Rural Transformation: The Maan Ki Baat Stories' was released today.

Speaking to , the Director General of NIRDPR, Dr G Narendra Kumar said, "An alternative mode of communication is bringing the citizens face to face with the development agenda. This manner of development communication is an alternative to the negative kind of communication which goes around in the media. It is connecting people with the vision of the Prime Minister and the government, on how the country can advance and move forward from a developing country to a developed country".

He said that there are more than 80 lakh self-help groups in the country and around 8 crore women are associated with it.

"But, these women are not able to move on and make the next leap from saving and thrifting kinds of activities into micro-enterprises which can give a boost to the rural economy and the economic growth of the country," the NIRDPR director said.

He added, "The Prime Minister is showing a way to those groups and to the country as a whole that it is not enough just to focus on the saving and thrift activities but to move towards micro enterprises formation".

Narendra Kumar, further added that the body performed a case study and cross-case comparison on all 10 micro enterprises mentioned by the Prime Minister.

"All those cross-case comparisons are brought out in our report. Likewise, PM Modi also made a mention of Amrit Sarovar which climate proofs the entire agricultural system in the villages by developing good community based farm ponds. It is being done as a part of the world's largest safety net program, the MGNREGA. As a part of this, a number of farm ponds have been developed all over the country. They are proving immensely beneficial in terms of increased water availability to the mals, for the crops and in terms of increase in income for the people," Kumar further said.