Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Monday, 1 June 2026, sampled Madia Pej — a traditional finger-millet cooling drink — prepared by Lakhpati Didis during the Sushasan Tihar outreach event at village Badekaner, Kondagaon district in the Bastar division.

Context

Posting on X, CM Sai described the experience in Hindi: 'Madia Pej ki har ghunt mein Bastar ki mitti ki sondhi mahak, janjatiya sanskriti ki samridh virasat aur Lakhpati Didiyon ki aatmiyata ka ehsaas hua' — ('Every sip of Madia Pej carried the earthy fragrance of Bastar's soil, the rich heritage of tribal culture, and the warmth of the Lakhpati Didis.'). He added that no modern beverage could match the cooling effect and taste of Bastar's Madia Pej.

The visit was part of the Sushasan Tihar 2026 programme, a district-level government outreach drive that Chhattisgarh has run since 2024 to improve last-mile delivery of welfare schemes, conduct grievance redressal, and facilitate direct public interaction at the village level.

Policy Backdrop

The Lakhpati Didi initiative — scaled nationally from 2023 onward by the Ministry of Rural Development — aims to support women members of self-help groups (SHGs) in crossing an annual household income threshold of at least one lakh rupees through sustainable livelihood activities. Chhattisgarh has aligned this national programme with local tribal knowledge systems, including the promotion of traditional foods and beverages from the Bastar region.

Madia Pej is a fermented or cooked drink prepared from mandiya (finger millet), a staple grain of Bastar's tribal communities. It has long been consumed as a natural coolant and energy drink, particularly during summer months. By channelling its production through SHG networks, the state government is attempting to convert cultural heritage into a structured income source for tribal women.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries are tribal women in Kondagaon and the wider Bastar division — one of Chhattisgarh's most economically backward yet culturally rich regions. Under the Lakhpati Didi framework, these women are producing and selling traditional products, using government support for training, marketing linkages, and access to rural livelihood missions.

State governments across central India have increasingly linked SHG networks with the promotion of region-specific traditional products to generate local employment. CM Sai's post explicitly framed the Lakhpati Didis as presenting 'a powerful image of the new Chhattisgarh' — signalling that the state intends to use cultural branding alongside income-generation goals. Bastar, despite its mineral wealth, has historically recorded high poverty and displacement indicators, making women-led economic activity a political as well as developmental priority.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to whether Madia Pej and similar Bastar tribal products receive dedicated support under state marketing federations or fresh budgetary allocations for SHG value chains in the next Chhattisgarh assembly session. The Sushasan Tihar 2026 programme is expected to continue across other districts, with traditional product promotion likely to remain a visible component of the government's grassroots outreach.

The broader trajectory — linking tribal women's SHGs to cultural-product markets — will be watched as a test of whether state-level implementation can translate national Lakhpati Didi targets into durable income gains for Bastar's communities.