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Revolutionary policies unveiled in past 10 yrs to empower women: Modi
Addressing a gathering in Panipat on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that how Haryana adopted the mantra of ‘ek hain to safe hain’ has now set an example for the whole country.
Women empowerment is on the government’s topmost agenda and started with the construction of 120 million toilets since 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday while launching a stipendiary scheme to train 2 lakh women insurance agents earning a regular monthly sum totalling to ₹2.16 lakh per person in three years.
Revolutionary policies unveiled for empowerment of rural women and decisions taken for them in the last one decade are matters for academic research, the Prime Minister said at a public gathering in Panipat after launching the scheme. This was Modi’s first public appearance in Haryana after the BJP formed the government for a third term in October this year. Taking popular names of his government’s scheme to uplift lives of poor women, he said: “Bima sakhi, bank sakhi, krishi sakhi, pashu sakhi, drone didi, lakhpati didi may sound very simple and ordinary, but they are transforming the fate of India,” he said.
In a tacit reference to the Opposition after the BJP’s victories in Haryana and Maharashtra assembly polls where women voters played a significant role, Modi said, “People who used to weigh everything on the scale of politics and vote bank are very surprised and troubled these days. They are unable to understand why the blessings of mothers, sisters and daughters are increasing in Modi’s account, election after election,” he said.
Modi also said that Haryana has set an adopted the mantra of ‘ek hain to safe hain’ has now set an example for the whole country.
Govt has paid ₹1.25 lakh crore as MSP in 10 yrs: Modi
Modi assured the people of Haryana that the double engine BJP government -- at the Centre and state level -- will work three times faster in its third term for all-round development, and emphasised that women’s power will continue to grow.
On works being done for the welfare of the farmers by the Centre and state governments, the Prime Minister underscored that in the first two terms, the farmers of Haryana had received more than ₹1.25 lakh crore as MSP, while after the formation of the government for the third time in Haryana, ₹14,000 crore was given to paddy, millet and moong farmers as MSP.
Earlier, introducing the ‘Bima Sakhi Yojana’, a stipendiary scheme of state-run Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), Union finance minister Nirnala Sitharanan said that the scheme is well aligned with the government’s key objectives of women empowerment and financial inclusion. It involves a three-year stipend programme for women (bima sakhi) in the age group of 18-70 years with educational qualification of class X and above. Their role is to promoting financial literacy and insurance awareness, she said.
Sitharaman said the scheme aims to raise women’s participation in insurance business, which is currently less than 28%. The scheme offers a total stipend of ₹7,000 per month to each candidate in the first year, ₹6,000 per month in the second year and ₹5,000 per month in the third year, she said. Over and above, bima sakhis can also earn commission for selling LIC policies, she added. The scheme targets to cover 2 lakh women in three years.
Modi also laid the foundation stone of the new campus of Maharana Pratap Horticulture University to provide new facilities to the youth studying in this university. The main campus of Maharana Pratap Horticultural University, Karnal, and six regional research stations, spread over 495 acres, will be established at a cost of over ₹700 crore.
The university will have one College of Horticulture for graduate and postgraduate studies and five schools covering 10 horticulture disciplines. It will work towards crop diversification and world-class research for the development of horticulture technologies.
