Women's empowerment isn’t just a word or a movement but a battle that women have been fighting for their basic rights including equality. India has travelled a long way when it comes to the condition of women, from not even being allowed to show their faces to living their lives on their terms.
The government of India is consistently working on improving the nation’s infrastructure to improve the quality of women's lives through schemes and initiatives. However, the nation has still a long way to go to make India not only equal and fair to women but safe and secure as well.
Let’s celebrate this Women’s Day a little differently. Let’s educate ourselves about the major government schemes for women and reap their benefits if eligible.
1. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao
The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao is a central government scheme launched in the year 2015 to promote and encourage girls to pursue education and also reduce the unequal ratio of girls and boys. The Sarkari Yojana also targets issues like dropout rates of girls and gender-based discrimination. The scheme works on improving the infrastructure of schools, ensuring that quality education is delivered to girl children, along with opportunities for scholarships and others.
2. Ujjwala Yojana
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was introduced to provide LPG connections to rural and Below Poverty Line households. The scheme also aims to replace traditional cooking
fuels with LPG by providing them with gas cylinders. The scheme ensures that the LPG connections are to be issued in the name of women of the registered households. This also eases the life of the women who had to go through the trouble of collecting firewood for cooking purposes.
3. Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY)
The Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY) is a central govt scheme launched as a component of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme. The central govt scheme is a savings scheme that aims to create and build financial security so that girls can use those funds after reaching a certain age to build their careers and lives. Parents can open an account under the SSY scheme for girl children below the age of 10 years and invest small amounts of money as per their convenience upon which higher interest will be accumulated.
4. Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana
The Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana was launched in the year 2017 to provide financial aid to pregnant women expecting their first child and lactating women too. The primary aim of the scheme is to take care of the health of both, women and children in sensitive periods of their lives.
5. Kishori Shakti Yojana
The government of India launched a special scheme for adolescent girls called the Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY). The govt scheme was launched to support wholesome growth and development by providing innumerable needed services such as nutritious food, skill development programmes, awareness about female hygiene, etc. to girls in the critical period of their lives when they experience major changes.
6. Mission Indradhanush
Mission Indradhanush is a govt initiative launched on 25th December 2014 to ensure that children and pregnant women receive life-saving vaccines. The mission targets individuals who have been left out or are partially vaccinated against preventable diseases. Immunisations include life-threatening diseases like tuberculosis, measles, rubella, polio, and others. This is implemented to focus on children who have not received immunisation services by ensuring that they are fully protected.
7. Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana
The Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana was launched on the 8th of April, 2015 by the honourable Prime Minister of India to help boost the abilities of small businesses and sectors belonging to non-farming. The PMMY provides concessions in the form of collateral-free loans of up to Rs. 10 lakh to marginal borrowers and also new business owners under three categories, which are differentiated as Shishu, Kishore, and Tarun. This helps them meet their working capital requirements and also obtain machinery without pledging any security against the loan, working in their favour.
8. Namo Drone Didi Scheme
The Namo Drone Didi Yojana sectors women SHGs to undertake agriculture practices using drones. This programme involves the issuance of 15,000 drones where women will be trained in both the use of these devices, repairing them as well as in use in farming and other agricultural practices for sustainable income and modern farming.
9. Working Women Hostel Scheme
This govt scheme was designed to provide affordable and safe options for accommodation to women working in urban, semi-urban, and rural areas. The Sarkari Yojana also provides daycare facilities wherein women can drop their children off till they are at work.
10. One Step Centre Scheme
The central government established the One Step Centre Scheme to protect women from violence both, physical and mental. The objective of the scheme is to protect women from violence and support the victims through both, medical and psychological care.
11. Mahila e-Haat
Mahila e-Haat is a govt initiative launched under the Ministry of Women and Child Development to help women entrepreneurs create a market for their goods and fulfil their aspirations. Women can put their goods on display on the website and create a consumer base for their products. The website has been developed with the help of Rashtriya Mahila Kosh.
12. STEP
The government of India launched the Support to Training and Employment Programme for Women (STEP) managed by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The govt scheme focuses on availing numerous resources to women for teaching and enhancing their skills and showing them the way to employment.
