Women should be made part of development: Chandrababu Naidu

Women should be made part of development and they should be well educated, said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday.

He was speaking in the Assembly on the issue of women empowerment, which was adopted by the House for discussion.

"The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder and former Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao (NTR) had the credit of providing right to property to women. It is the TDP govt that introduced reservations for women in local bodies. Women should be made part of development, they should be well educated," Naidu said.

He also outlined the initiatives taken by his government for women empowerment.

"We have started DWCRA (Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas) groups for women empowerment. Now, there are more than 91 lakh women in those groups. The TDP government had initiated giving 33 percent reservation for women in educational institutes and jobs ranging from conductors to constables," Naidu said.

He further added that the TDP government has issued 45 lakh gas connections for welfare of women.

"Andhra Bank started new scheme of developing Self Help Groups (SHGs) to Self Business Groups (SBGs) to make the women as entrepreneurs. This is first of its kind scheme in India," said the Chief Minister.

The Assembly passed resolution approving the 'Amaravati Declaration' made a few days ago. The declaration was a conclusion to the 'Women Parliament' held in February 2017.

The assembly also passed resolution asking the central govt to provide 33.33 percent reservation for women in legislative houses.