International Women's Day: Centre, states unveil women-focused schemes

Ever improving turnout of women electors and increasing number of women deciding their voting behaviour on issues of their daily concern rather than on religious and caste identities has meant an unprecedented outreach towards them by the governments of all political hues at the Centre and in states.

 

This year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) celebrations on Saturday, March 8, will witness a never before seen rollout of women-oriented schemes, programmes and events by the Centre and state governments.

 

For example, the Delhi government is slated to flag off Mahila Samriddhi Yojana while the Maharashtra Assembly will hold a day-long special discussion on women's issues on Saturday to mark IWD.

 

 

This year’s IWD theme is, ‘For All Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.’

 

The theme calls for action to unlock equal rights, power and opportunities for all and an inclusive future where no one is left behind. Central to this vision, according to a government document, is empowering the next generation youth, particularly young women and adolescent girls, as catalysts for lasting change.

 

However, as seen in Chhattisgarh recently, women continue to lack voice despite reservation for them under the 73rd and 74th amendments in panchayats and civic bodies. On Monday, the husbands of six newly-elected women panchayat representatives took the oath in place of their wives in a village in Chhattisgarh’s Kabirdham district, prompting the authorities to order a probe.

 

According to a recent report of the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj, India has nearly 263,000 panchayats in all three tiers, Gram Panchayat (at village level), Panchayat Samiti (at block level) and Zila Parishad (at district level) with 3.229 million elected representatives, of which 1.503 million (46.6 per cent) are women.

 

The ratio of women elected representatives has increased among panchayat officials but their effective participation in the decision-making process remains low with the culture of ‘Pradhan Pati’, ‘Sarpanch Pati’ or ‘Mukhiya Pati’ being prevalent.

 

The Ministry has launched the 'Sashakt Panchayat Netri Abhiyan' to instil confidence in women representation and capacity-building. Union Panchayati Raj Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh said many states, such as Bihar, provide a 50 per cent quota for women (in Panchayati Raj Institutions).

 

“Today, over 54 per cent of women in Bihar win seats beyond the reservation provided. Over 20 states in the country have 50 per cent reservation for women in local bodies,” he said.

 

At least since the enacting of the 128th constitution amendment bill in September 2023, which reserved a third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies for women, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre has spoken of ‘women-led development’. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has identified women as one of the four pillars of Viksit Bharat.

 

On Saturday, the newly-elected Rekha Gupta-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Delhi is set to roll out ‘Modi’s guarantee’ to women of Delhi of ₹2,500 monthly allowance under the Mahila Samriddhi Scheme. According to sources, women with a household annual income of less than ₹300,000 would be eligible for the scheme.

 

In Mumbai, the Maharashtra Assembly is scheduled to hold a special discussion on women’s issues on IWD and to mark the 300th birth anniversary of 18th Century ruler Ahilyabai Holkar. The state government will also deposit the February instalment of its Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana on March 8.

 

The Congress-led Telangana government will mark IWD with a public meeting in Hyderabad where CM A Revanth Reddy will flag off 50 buses leased by women self-help groups and launch other initiatives, including women run petrol pumps in all districts of the state.

 

In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, CM N Chandrababu Naidu will distribute sewing machines to 102,832 women from Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes.

 

In Bhubaneswar on Thursday, the BJP-led Odisha government distributed ₹115 crore to 230,000 new beneficiaries under its Subhadra scheme. Deputy CM Pravati Parida said the state government has disbursed financial assistance under the scheme in five phases, benefitting 10 million women.

 

The PM had launched the scheme on September 17.

 

It provides ₹50,000 annual allowance to eligible women. The state government has until now deposited the first instalment of ₹5,000, and will start depositing the second instalment on the occasion of IWD on March 8.

 

Parida appealed to all beneficiaries of Subhadra Yojana to light a lamp on March 7 evening. She announced that the state government has decided to release 10 months of pending salaries for women workers under the Mission Shakti department, including Bank Mitras, master bookkeepers, Krishi Mitras, and Prani Mitras.

 

In Himachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who leads the state’s Congress government, has instructed the forest department to focus on enhancing and conserving forest areas and rope in women and youngsters, self-help groups and entrepreneurs for the purpose. Sukhu said the government has allocated ₹100 crore to compensate them for their services.

 

On Monday, the PM said he has been seeing very inspiring life journeys being shared on the 'NaMo App Open Forum' from which a few women will be selected for taking over his digital social media accounts on IWD. The PM handed over his social media accounts to seven leading women from different fields on March 8, 2020, in a similar gesture.

 

The Centre will mark IWD on March 8 as a national event with the theme 'Viksit Bharat with Nari Shakti'. A national consultation will be held in the presence of President Droupadi Murmu at Vigyan Bhawan, the Women and Child Development Ministry said on Thursday.

 

The ministry said 2025 holds special importance as it marks the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a landmark document that has transformed the global women's rights agenda.

 

The government will also highlight its women-centric schemes, such as Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP). It said the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has prioritised gender equity and inclusion in education.

 

It said that the Female Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) has overtaken Male GER since 2017-18. Female enrolment in higher education was 2.07 crore (2021-22), which is nearly 50 per cent of the total number 4.33 crore.

 

The female to 100 male faculty ratio has also improved to 77 in 2021-22 from 63 in 2014-15.  Women in STEM are 42.57% (4.19 million) of the total STEM enrolment.

 

According to the government data, under Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana Rs 17,362 crore has been disbursed to 38.1 million women, as of January 2025.

 

Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) has reduced from 130 (2014-16) to 97 (2018-20) per 100,000 live births.

 

Life expectancy for women has increased to 71.4 years (2016-20), and is expected to reach 74.7 years by 2031-36.

 

It said Jal Jeevan Mission has provided potable tap water to 15.4 (154 million) crore households, reducing health risks. Swachh Bharat Mission led to the construction of 11.8 (118 million) toilets, improving sanitation and hygiene.

 

Not just the Centre and state governments will mark IWD by showcasing women-centric schemes, but earlier this week, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said his party will introduce the 'Stree Samman-Samriddhi Yojana' in 2027 if voted to power in the state. The assembly polls in UP are due in 2027.

 

According to SBI Research’s recent analysis, based on the Election Commission’s electoral data, states that have rolled out one or more women centric schemes have witnessed an incremental women voter turnout of 18 million in 2024 over 2019.

 

The analysis attributed the increased turnout of women electors on the implementation of women centric schemes, such as income transfer, literacy, employment, especially Mudra Yojana, house ownership under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and sanitation. It said improved electricity supply and access to potable water also contributed to the trend.

  The analysis mapped the PM Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) and Mudra scheme accounts to claim that “women electoral participation is increasing with rising numbers of women PMJDY and women Mudra loan accounts”.

 

It stated that among the states, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha have seen increased women turnout ratio during the last ten years while Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Gujarat and Haryana have seen a decline in turnout ratio of women.