‘Education ensuring women can fly high’: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

The CM felicitated 64 women for their achievements and work on women’s issues. Among them was 89-year-old Shanti Bai Yadav, popularly known as Shanti Amma, a house help from a village near Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh who cycles around 20km to houses for work every day.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said that the Delhi government’s education push is paving the way for women to “fly so high that they leave everyone behind”.

CM  Arvind Kejriwal hands over an award to model and anti-acid activist Reshma Bano Qureshi (2R) during Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Awards 2022 on International Women's Day, at India Habitat Center, in New Delhi.  (ANI)

Attending a function organised by the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) at the India Habitat Centre on the occasion of International Women’s Day, Kejriwal said, “Half our aim of women empowerment gets fulfilled when these girls, who are perhaps first-generation learners, get to study in world-class schools. We are also developing an entrepreneurial mindset in every single student in our government schools to make them job providers and not job seekers... When women get to stand on an equal pedestal, they fly so high that they leave everyone behind. We aim to empower the weakest section of the society so they can stand next to the most elite with confidence. Independence is the highest form of empowerment and we aim to achieve just that.”

The CM also felicitated 64 women for their achievements and work on women’s issues. Among them was 89-year-old Shanti Bai Yadav, popularly known as Shanti Amma, a house help from a village near Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh who cycles around 20km to houses for work every day.

“Earlier, my bicycle was a means to eke out livelihood for me as I needed to marry both my daughters. But, now it keeps the old-age ailments away from me,” she said.

The awardees included acid attack survivor-turned-fashion influencer Reshma Quereshi and transgender activist Gauri Sawant, among others.

Kejriwal said the AAP government has worked towards strengthening DCW. “Most governments misused commissions and boards to lure people who would get them political leverage. But we did not follow that precedent and handpicked the best people for every such post regardless of any biases. The National Commission for Women should learn how to empower women from DCW. Delhi has the highest CCTV coverage per square mile in the whole world,” he said.