Page 9 - Women Empowerment

For women, it's a long walk to financial inclusion

Designing financial services for women makes good business sense. Women have lower defaults, tend to save more and make timely repayments compared to men

DU directs colleges, depts to install CCTV cameras outside women's toilets

The Delhi University has directed its colleges to install CCTV cameras outside women's toilets and changing rooms during fests in the aftermath of an incident in which some women were secretly filmed while changing in IIT-Delhi, officials said on Friday. In a recent advisory, the administration also asked its colleges and departments to ensure that CCTV camera arrangements were made at all gates of the institutes and hostels to avoid any mishap. "After recommendations by the Delhi Police, we have made relevant additions to fest guidelines in view of the recent incident at IIT-Delhi. We have asked colleges to make CCTV arrangements in front of ladies' washrooms and dressing rooms during fests for the safety of students," DU proctor Rajni Abbi told PTI. Last October, about 10 students of Delhi University's Bharti College complained that they were secretly filmed while changing in an IIT-Delhi washroom during a fashion show at the institute's fest. Police arrested a 20-year-old ...

PM Modi arrives in Kavaratti to lay foundation stone of several projects

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a mass gathering of 200k women from various walks of life at the Bharatiya Janata Party's Mahila Conference in Thrissur Kerala on Wednesday

PM Modi to attend women empowerment programme in Kerala's Thrissur

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to arrive in the central Kerala city of Thrissur on Wednesday to participate in a mass convention organised by the BJP's state unit, focusing on women's empowerment. Modi, who will travel from Lakshadweep to Kochi in the afternoon, is scheduled to conduct a roadshow in the city, known as the cultural capital of Kerala. Later, he will address a gathering of two lakh women at the expansive Thekkinkadu maidan. The event, titled 'Sthree Shakthi Modikkoppam' (Empowered Women with Modi), is intended to commend Modi for successfully passing the Women's Reservation Bill in both Houses of Parliament, according to party leaders. Women from diverse backgrounds, including anganwadi teachers, ASHA workers, entrepreneurs, artists, MGNREGA and neighbourhood network workers, as well as social and cultural activists, are expected to participate in the convention. The BJP state leadership recently said that a cross-section of women from Kerala would assemble in .

Marital rape no less henious, silence on sexual violence must end: Guj HC

A rape is a rape, even when it is committed by a man on his wife, the Gujarat High Court has observed, citing that the silence shrouding sexual violence against women in India needs to be broken. In an order passed recently, Justice Divyesh Joshi observed that the actual incidences of violence against women in India are probably much higher than what the data suggests, and women may continue to face hostility and remain in environments where they are subject to violence. Social attitude typically characterises certain behaviours such as stalking, eve-teasing, shades of verbal and physical assault, and harassment as "minor" offences, which are "regrettably" not only trivialised or normalised but even romanticised and promoted in popular lore such as cinema, the order stated. The attitudes which view sexual crimes through the prism of "boys will be boys" and condone them, nevertheless, "have a lasting and pernicious effect on the survivors", it said. The court made these observations

Private lives at households not constitutional vacuums for injustice: CJI

Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Sunday said though households provide a private sanctuary to the inhabitants, it may not be simply an equitable space. Dwelling on the topic Constitutional imperativeness of the state, navigating discrimination in public and private spaces' the Chief Justice underlined that the gain of improving private lives will reflect on public life as well, for these private structures are not constitutional vacuums'. Justice Chandrachud was delivering the Justice E S Venkataramaiah Centennial Memorial Lecture organised by the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru here. According to the CJI, courts in India have in the past privileged the institution of marriage over the individual. The courts inherited the thought that the need to preserve the institutions is greater than the need to protect individual's rights. The sensitive sphere of privacy of homes was considered to be an intimate sanctuary, immune from the applications of the core ..

The XX factor: Women now make or mar a party's electoral fortunes

The trailblazer's crown sits firmly on the head of J Jayalalithaa, widely recognised in Tamil Nadu as the mother of welfare schemes

Cabinet approves Rs 1,261 cr scheme to provide drones to 15,000 women SHGs

Centre to bear 80 per cent of the cost of drone estimated at Rs 10 lakh

Women in politics: Glass ceiling remains in poll-bound states, shows data

The passage of the Bill has not meant political parties fielding more women candidates

PNB Housing Finance aims expansion in affordable housing, 60 more branches

PNB Housing Finance on Monday inaugurated its first all-women branch in the country

Participation of women in country's workforce increased to 37%: Pradhan

Participation of women in the country's workforce increased to 37 per cent in 2022-23, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Saturday. Speaking at the 'Rozgar Mela' here, Pradhan said the figure was 23 per cent in 2017-18. "There has been balanced growth in society as there has been a rise in women's participation in the workforce," he said, adding that women are hard-working than men. The Narendra Modi government's women-focussed schemes have helped to raise the participation of women in the workforce, he said. The Centre is giving priority to women in policy-making and leadership roles, he said, maintaining that the prime minister has been stressing on the need to uplift women in the country. There is a need to skill women to increase the workforce of the country, he said, highlighting the importance of re-skilling and up-skilling working women to adapt them to changing technologies. Pradhan also said that the rate of unemployment in the country has come down to 3

Pension amount of destitute women will be increased in near future: UP CM

He also mentioned that the government has decided to increase the amount from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 from the next financial year under Chief Minister Kanya Sumangala Yojana

Women are agents of social change and social cohesion: India at UNSC

India also went on to mention that the under-representation of women in the peace process and political dialogue and called for overcoming the issue to ensure sustainable peace

Empower women by making them equal partners in nation-building: Prez Murmu

President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday greeted citizens on the eve of Durga Puja and said the country must empower women by making them equal and honourable partners in nation-building. "The festival of Durga Puja symbolises the victory of good over evil, awareness over ignorance and truth over falsehood. Worshipped in many forms, Maa Durga gives us the strength to keep the divisive and destructive forces at bay," Murmu said. She asked all to take a pledge to work for the unity and integrity of the country, following good conduct and with the spirit of service. "We must empower women by making them equal and honorable partners in nation-building," the president said. She has sent her greetings to fellow citizens on the eve of Durga Puja, a statement issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan said. "On the auspicious occasion of Durga Puja, I extend my heartiest greetings and good wishes to all Indians living in India and abroad," it added.

UP CM launches fourth phase of Mission Shakti aimed at empowering women

He also said that Mission Shakti has become a popular scheme in the state as it has led to reduction in crimes against women

Women empowerment scheme on hold within hrs of announcement in Maharashtra

The Maharashtra government has put on hold a women empowerment scheme within 24 hours of issuing an order regarding its implementation. The scheme Mukhymantri Mahila Sashaktikaran Abhiyan' was to be implemented in the state from October 2, 2023, to October 1 2024. The programme was to be monitored by the woman and child development minister, who would submit monthly reports to the chief minister and deputy chief minister, said the order issued on September 20. The department secretary was to be the nodal officer. A special officer was to be appointed at the state level, while the woman and child development commissioner, Pune, was to head the programme. As per the order, the programme was a unified platform to implement all programmes and policies of the state and central governments related to women for their socio-economic development. However, a fresh notification on September 21 said the order issued the previous day had been stayed until further orders. The women and child

Congress never serious about women's reservation or their empowerment: BJP

The Congress was never serious about providing reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, the BJP alleged on Tuesday after the government introduced a bill in this regard in the Lower House of Parliament. The government introduced a constitutional amendment bill to reserve one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women, reviving the concept of women's reservation pending for 27 years for want of consensus among parties. Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the introduction of the bill in the Lok Sabha shows the "unwavering commitment" of the Narendra Modi government to empower women. "Sadly, the opposition is unable to digest this. And, what is more shameful is that except tokenism, the Congress has never been serious about women's reservation," he posted on X. "Either they let legislations lapse or their friendly parties prevented the (women's reservation) bill from being tabled. Their double standards will never be hidden, whatever stunts they t

Financial empowerment of women is bedrock of progress: Cong chief Kharge

Congress-ruled Karnataka government on Wednesday rolled out the 'Gruha Lakshmi' scheme one among five poll promises made by the Congress during its election campaign

Elections 2023: What is BJP's women outreach plan in poll-bound states?

Ahead of the upcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has initiated a slew of outreach efforts, particularly among women voters

Women's reservation not my domestic problem, it concerns 700 mn women: BRS

Dismissing opposition's remarks on allottment of tickets to women in the forthcoming Assembly elections by the ruling BRS, MLC K Kavitha on Wednesday said the women's reservation issue was not her domestic problem but concerns 70 crore female folk in the country. Addressing reporters here, she slammed both the Congress and the BJP, saying both parties have ignored the Women Reservation Bill, which though passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010, has yet to be cleared by the Lok Sabha despite figuring in the BJP's election manifesto. Union Minister and state BJP president G Kishan Reddy had attacked Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led BRS for not giving 33 per cent reservation to women in distribution of tickets for the coming Assembly polls. In March this year, Kavitha held a hunger-dharna in the national capital on the women reservation issue. "What I request from every political party is that this is not my domestic problem. This is a women's problem. This is a problem of 70 crore wo