- Aim is to create 2 Crore ‘Lakhpati Didis’
IndiGlobal Bureau
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the occasion of 77th Independence Day today, underlined the importance of women-led development and how it is essential to take the country forward. The PM recalled that India can proudly say today that it has the maximum number of woman pilots in the civil aviation sector. Women scientists are also leading the Chandrayaan Mission, added the PM.
The Prime Minister said that he has taken forward the issue of Women-Led Development at G20 and that the G20 countries have accepted it and are recognizing its importance. Talking of ‘Nari Samman’, the Prime Minister shared an experience from one of his foreign visits, where a senior minister of that nation asked him whether the women in India study science and engineering. Prime Minister said that he replied that today in our country, girls outnumber boys in the pursuit of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) and that the world today is looking at this capacity of ours.
PM Modi has said that the Government is working with Women’s Self Help Groups (SHGs) with the aim of creating 2 crore ‘Lakhpati Didis’ in villages. The PM observed that 10 crore women are today associated with Women’s Self-Help Groups. “In villages today, one can find a Didi in the Bank, in the Anganwaadi and a Didi to provide medicines.” The Prime Minister spoke about agri-tech and made a pitch for leveraging the potential of science and technology in rural development. The PM said that 15,000 Women’s Self-Help Groups would be given loan and training for operating and repairing drones. “Drone ki Udaan” will be carried out by these Women’s Self-Help Groups, said the PM.