CM Yogi Hails 12M SHG Network, 4x Anganwadi Pay Hike on Maha Ashtami
Performing sacred rituals in honor of Maa Mahagauri on the auspicious Ashtami of Sharadiya Navratri, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath declared that genuine civilizational progress is realized only when every mother is healthy and safeguarded, every daughter is guaranteed nutrition and educational opportunities, and every woman leads a dignified, financially self-reliant life. Describing Maa Mahagauri as the supreme cosmic emblem of peace, purity, and benevolence in a formal statement released via his official handle on 'X', the Chief Minister asserted that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the state’s double-engine administration has transformed women from passive welfare beneficiaries into proactive drivers of socioeconomic development. By weaving comprehensive social security, legal protection, nutrition delivery, and enterprise capital into grassroots governance, Uttar Pradesh has systematically illuminated the lives of its female populace with safety, institutional respect, physical strength, and enduring prosperity.
Dismantling Nutrition Cartels: Entrusting Take-Home Rations to SHGs and Quadrupled Anganwadi Pay
Reflecting on the administrative turnaround achieved since taking office, Chief Minister Yogi sharply contrasted current transparent governance frameworks with the systemic rot that plagued the state prior to 2017, recalling how child welfare and supplementary nutrition programs were once held hostage by entrenched mafia cartels and corrupt middle networks. To break this grip, the state government restructured the supplementary nutrition architecture by transferring the production and localized door-to-door distribution of take-home rations directly into the hands of women-led Self-Help Groups (SHGs). This structural overhaul eliminated corruption, restored public accountability, and fortified community-level campaigns against infant and maternal malnutrition while establishing an independent source of livelihood for village women. Parallelly, acknowledging the frontline contributions of Anganwadi workers who construct the foundation of early childhood care, healthcare monitoring, and preschool education, the state government raised their monthly honorarium fourfold from ₹3,000 to ₹12,000, while safeguarding their personal and social welfare through comprehensive state-backed health insurance coverage.
Rural Economic Powerhouses: 4 Lakh Dairy Farmers, Gram Panchayat BC Sakhis, and 12 Million SHG Members
At the rural grassroots, the administration's enterprise strategy has unlocked large-scale female entrepreneurship across 31 districts through specialized women-owned dairy producer organizations, including Balinee, Samarthya, Kashi, Baba Gorakhnath, and Srijani. Over 4 lakh women milk producers have federated under these cooperative enterprises, turning daily dairy yield into steady household income, commercial equity, and localized financial freedom. Simultaneously, the deployment of Banking Correspondent Sakhis (BC Sakhis) across every single Gram Panchayat has revolutionized rural doorstep banking, ensuring unhindered delivery of government subsidies, pensions, and digital financial services to remote hamlets. Across Uttar Pradesh, more than 12 million women are now organized within self-help groups, utilizing the central Lakhpati Didi initiative to upscale technical craftsmanship, agricultural trades, and micro-enterprises into sustainable annual earnings exceeding ₹1 lakh. Grounded in the spiritual invocation of Maa Mahagauri, Chief Minister Yogi reiterated that with women’s leadership steering rural commerce, Uttar Pradesh is realizing its vision of an empowered female collective driving an economically prosperous state.
