VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh Rural Development department secured five SKOCH Awards, including two gold and three silver. The awards were presented at a programme organised in New Delhi on Monday.
SKOCH Award was instituted in 2003 to salutes people, projects and institutions that go the extra mile to make India a better nation.
The State government bagged the gold award for its programme, Stree Nidhi, which facilitates loans to women self help groups (SHG) within 48 hours in addition to the loans provided by banks.
The other gold award was given to Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP).
Chittoor District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) secured a silver award for publishing a monthly magazine, ‘Mahila Navodayam’, highlighting the success stories of SHGs. Project director Tulasi accepted the award. Chittoor DRDA also secured another silver award for organising special training programmes to help unemployed youth create jobs for themselves.
Nellore DRDA bagged a silver award for its initiative of encouraging women to get make a living through rearing country chicken. Project director Sambasiva Reddy accepted the award.