By Siraj Qureshi: A strategy has been developed to launch ‘Didi Cafe’ across 16 municipal corporation cities in Uttar Pradesh, including the cities in the Agra division, including Mathurai, Firozabad, and Vrindavan. This Didi Cafe will only be run by women’s self-help groups providing access to low-cost food, snacks, and other amenities where women are employed through these canteens.

The initiative falls under the Centre’s aim to uplift women who are linked with self-help groups founded under the National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM).

Officials have said that several initiatives by women’s groups from Chhattisgarh and several other states would be roped in the cause. According to a senior member, a trial project is underway in Varanasi.

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It is said the decision to launch the initiative was taken in a meeting also chaired by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Amrit Abhijat, Principal Secretary of the Urban Development Department.

It was further decided that ‘Didi Cafe’ will be operated in the municipal corporations of the Agra division in its first phase, the outcomes of which shall help the authorities chalk out a further plan. Agra has been joined by Mathura, Vrindavan, Firozabad, Lucknow, Ayodhya, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Jhansi, Ghaziabad, Bareilly, Meerut, Aligarh, Moradabad, Saharanpur, and Shahjahanpur.

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Speaking about the initiative, Vishal Sharma, Vice Chairman of Hindustani Biradari, said, “While building Didi Cafe is a commendable step and will assist greatly to the upliftment of women, only urban women will be able to find work in such a scheme due to its location in cities. The government should implement a similar programme for rural women.”

He also said that former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav had allocated land plots to acid attack survivors in Agra and Lucknow to construct cafes, to create jobs for acid attack survivors.

The cafes proved highly successful and assisted in the rehabilitation of the victims of acid attacks.