Sitharaman announces slew of measures to propel India’s ‘nari-shakti’

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced that the Modi government would be increasing the target of women beneficiaries under its Lakhpati Didi Scheme to three crore women from two crore."83 lakh Self Help Groups with nine crore women are transforming the rural socioeconomic landscape, and have assisted nearly one crore women in becoming lakhpati didis already," Sitharaman said while presenting the interim Budget for the next fiscal year starting April 1, 2024."Female enrolment in higher education is up by 28% in 10 years, in STEM courses, girls and women make up 43% of enrolment, one of the highest in the world. All these steps are reflected in the increasing participation of women in the workforce.

Making triple talaq illegal, reservation of 1/3 seats for women in Parliament and state assemblies, over 70 % houses under PM Awas Yojana to women have increased their dignity," the Finance Minister said."I applaud the ease of securing a 34 crore loan for entrepreneurs. The 43% women enrollment in STEM courses and Allocating 1/3 seats in government reflects a commitment to equal representation. Women setting up their businesses will lead to job creation for the same gender and recent studies have shown that empowering women economically leads to increased GDP and poverty reduction, benefiting families and communities.

Overcoming various challenges and barriers as a woman entrepreneur in India is not an easy feat and with encouragement from the government, this will provide a boost, especially to those from economically weaker backgrounds. Increased women entrepreneurship is also a step towards global collaborations and will provide India with an additional platform to expand networks and access global markets," said Pallavi Singh Marwah, senior VP of SPPL.“Our government will encourage vaccination for girls in the age group of 9 to 14 years for providing prevention of cervical cancer,” she said.In the previous budget, Sitharaman emphasised on the economic empowerment of women, envisioning the transformation of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) into viable income-generating producer organizations and sustainable women enterprises. The budget announced help with supply of raw materials and for better design, quality, branding and marketing of their products, to enable them scale up their operations to serve the large consumer markets, as has been the case with several start-ups growing into unicor.