Beneficiary outreach programme

Beneficiary Outreach Programme Conducted by UTLA

     The Union Territory of Lakshadweep has conducted a Beneficiary Outreach Programme on 12th June across all islands. The activities are in pursuance of the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi in realizing the goals of atmanirbharbharat, doubling farmers’ income, providing nutritional security for the people, women empowerment, and Mission Life for Environment. The Hon’ble Prime Minister recognizing the efforts of the Lakshadweep Administration has tweeted that the efforts are appreciable and the results are outstanding. Furthermore, he said that the people of Lakshadweep are very enthusiastic about learning and taking ownership of innovation and new ideas like these projects undertaken by the Lakshadweep Administration under the leadership of Shri. Praful Patel.

            The Union Territory of Lakshadweep Administration for the last two years has undertaken many schemes. The Beneficiary Outreach Program was organized to distribute the benefits of various schemes.

                  The main occupation of the people of Lakshadweep is fishing. The territorial waters of Lakshadweep are rich in marine resources like tuna fish. The Hon’ble Administrator has said that the non-availability of cold storage facilities onboard while catching fish in the sea causes economic loss to the small and marginal fishermen. As fish is a highly perishable commodity, it needs to be stored in colder temperatures and processed into various products immediately to maintain its quality and increase the shelf life. Fish and fishery products brought to the market in a well-preserved condition fetch higher prices, both at the wholesale and retail levels and thus yield better financial returns in the fishing activity. Lakshadweep Administration has procured 295 ice boxes of 150-litre capacity, which were distributed at each islands today on free of cost among small country craft owners, who currently do not have onboard preserve facilities. The quality and robust fish boxes are received enthusiastically by the fisher community across islands.

And in the same program distribution of about11,500 dustbins to households of Lakshadweep was started. The Waste Management Programme including the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) and Lakshadweep Swachh Abhiyan is being implemented. The Hon’ble Administrator has said that the Administration proposed to collect both types of waste, from house to house and dispose it scientifically.  Two types of dust bins are provided for dry and wet wastes respectively. Hon’ble administrator has exhorted that cleanliness is godliness and the people of Lakshadweep should consider the surroundings to be equivalent to their personnel living spaces, and thus maintain the tidiness of the islands.

            “Nutri Garden Project” was started in 2022 in all the islands. 1000 farmers were selected for the project and different vegetables like okra, tomato, brinjal, chilli, amaranthusetc and grow bags and organic fertilizers were distributed to them. Over eight thousand fruit saplings of various varieties like papaya, banana, lemon, sapota, amla, guava etc. were distributed to the farmers. In addition, spices saplings were also provided to beneficiaries. The initiative has given very positive results. The Hon’ble Administrator has said that the commodities like fruits and vegetables supply from mainland took 5 days to reach islands, as a result of which, the freshness is lost. Through this initiative, inspired from atmanirbharbharatof the central government, the vegetables and fruits are grown in islands itself. Supply of fresh vegetables in Lakshadweep has increased in the last year, thus ensuring nutritional security of the local population. The programme has also been a huge success resulting in increased income guarantee to the farmers and financial savings to households. The scheme is being extended further this year. This includes providing quality coconut saplings to the farmers. Presently, the coconut plantations in Lakshadweep is having diminishing marginal returns due to various factors like plantations becoming old, white fly infestation etc. In order to overcome such challenges, Lakshadweep Administration has initiated the scheme of providing coconut saplings to the people as part of Nurti Garden Project. In the first phase, 1500 high quality of coconut saplings in distribution started with today’s program by Hon’ble Administrator. The aim is an overall target of 10,000 plants to be distributed to beneficiary farmers across this year. These varieties give mature coconuts about 80-100 per year starting from 2.5-3 yrs of maturity, while normal coconuts will start giving coconut fruiting after 6-8 years.

            Lakshadweep administration has also initiated Backyard Poultry Rearing Scheme in which low-income families were distributed about 7830 country breed chicks like Kadaknath and Kaveri and given training. This scheme has resulted into extra income for the families, empowerment of women and also improved nutritional intake of the local population.

          The above program was conducted at each island of Lakshadweep and people participated in huge numbers. Through this program administration is reaching to the last person as a movement inspired by Mahatma Gandhi. The women beneficiaries wholeheartedly expressed their happiness and thank for the dedication and  hard work of Hon’ble Administrator Shri. Praful Patel under whose leadership, the Administration is relentlessly working upon the positive results accrued and furthering in scale of the respective schemes. These initiatives are the part of vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister.