Among the 5,47,743 Self Help Group (SHGs) members in Tripura as many as 91,871 women emerged as ‘Lakhpati Didis’ through their engagement in various enterprising units, Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha announced here on Wednesday.

Distributing appointment letters among 228 government teachers, the Chief Minister said that women empowerment is one of the priority sectors of the Tripura government.

A ‘Lakhpati Didi’ is an SHG member with an annual household income exceeding Rs 1 lakh.

Beyond financial success, they inspire others by adopting sustainable livelihood practices and achieving a decent standard of living.

The SHGs support the women to become ‘Lakhpati Didi’ with collective action, financial literacy, and skill development, empowering members for entrepreneurial ventures.

The Chief Minister said that the government actively backs this initiative, promoting diversified livelihood activities and fostering collaboration across sectors for strategic planning and implementation.

He said that Tripura currently has 53,623 SHGs under the Tripura Rural Livelihood Mission, and 4.84 lakh rural women are associated with these SHGs, while under the Tripura Urban Livelihood Mission, around 5,941 SHGs were formed involving 63,743 women living in urban areas.

He added that Rs 746.80 crore were given so far as financial assistance (revolving fund) to these SHG members to produce and make various items and to do business in numerous sectors.

CM Dr Saha said that after coming to power in March 2018 and till March this year, the state government has provided government jobs to 17,554 men and women.

Through the outsourcing system as many as 5,700 people were engaged in various departments, he said, adding that several thousand people also got employment scope though various private initiatives and government-sponsored schemes.

CM Dr Saha said that currently the state's unemployment percentage is less than the national average and the government has taken a series of initiatives to further improve it.

The Chief Minister said that as per the periodical labour force survey by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Tripura's unemployment percentage was 10 against the national average of 5.8 during the 2018-19 financial year.

“Now the unemployment percentage as per that survey has come down to 1.7 per cent against the national average of 3.2 per cent. It shows that employability is more in the state,” he said.

CM Dr Saha said that during previous regimes, government jobs were provided through “party line” and the present government has been providing employment on the basis of merit and maintaining transparency.