Women are the focus of efforts for inclusive growth: Prime Minister

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The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, has said that women have been a special focus of the government’s efforts regarding making development inclusive. While acknowledging that the country has a long way to go towards social, economic and political empowerment of women, the Prime Minister reiterated government’s resolve to provide equal opportunities and an enabling environment. “We, as a government, are committed to this and our commitment is reflected in our policies and programmes”, He said after the inauguration of Women’s Leadership Summit- 2010 on ‘Inclusive Growth & Empowering Women of Rural India’, here today.

Outlining the initiatives by the government the Prime Minister pointed out “today nearly half of those who get work under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme happen to be women. Out of the 3.5 million Self Help Groups formed under the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana, 2.3 million are those of women. This scheme is being restructured as the National Rural Livelihoods Mission, and I hope that this will improve the scheme and remove some of its deficiencies. I also hope that the restructuring of the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh, which provides collateral-free micro-credit to women Self Help Groups, announced last year will be taken to its logical conclusion soon by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.” Speaking on the increasing participation of women in politics, The Prime Minister referred to 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments. He hoped for a further fillip to women participation by increasing the number of seats reserved in Panchayats and City and Town Government to 50%. “More importantly, we are moving towards providing one third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislature.” The Prime Minister added.

Speaking on the occasion, Lok Sabha Speaker, Smt Meira Kumar emphasized that widespread discrimination and lack of recognition of women’s contribution need to be tackled on war-footing. Referring to violence against women, the Speaker opined that in order to combat this violence legislative efforts need to be combined with large scale efforts to change mindset by development of public consciousness. The Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Women and Child Development, Smt Krishna Tirath emphasized that the dream of developed India will not be fulfilled unless the women in general and rural women in particular are empowered. Smt Tirath said that initiatives like Self Help Group Promotion, universalization of ICDS and legislative measures against domestic violence and dowry indicate government’s resolve to empower women from all walks of life. She said that very soon the government will be able to operationalize SABALA – Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG) and Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahayog Yojana with an allocation of Rs 9000 crore for Eleventh Plan Period. She underlined hike in budgetary allocation for the Ministry and social sector in general. She also pointed out that the Cabinet has approved the Women Reservation Bill to be introduced in Parliament. The Minister also read out the Message from UPA Chairperson Smt Sonia Gandhi.