National Women's Day: Celebrating Women's Struggles & Achievements

As a mark of tribute to legendary freedom fighter Sarojini Naidu, also called the “Nightingale of India”, National Women’s Day is being observed across the nation today.

This day is also marked as National Women’s Day in honor of Naidu as a proponent of women’s emancipation and anti-imperialism.

This day is not just a tribute to her remarkable life but also a celebration of women's resilience, achievements, and ongoing struggles. It serves as a reminder of the indispensable role women play in shaping society and the need for continued efforts towards gender equality.

Various programs are arranged nationwide by government bodies, educational institutions, NGOs, and corporate entities to commemorate the National Day of Women. These events not only commemorate the legacy of Sarojini Naidu but also catalyze the ongoing dialogue and action towards achieving gender equality and empowering women in India.

Focusing on gender equality and aiming to strengthen womenfolk, the Centre as well as Assam government have initiated several measures to ensure that the community receive equal benefits as men do.

The Assam Government doled out a slew of women-centric schemes in its budget for 2024-25 which was presented by Finance Minister Ajanta Neog on Monday. Among the schemes introduced for the women community are Mukhya Mantri Nijut Moina and the Mukhya Mantri Mahila Udyamita Abhiyaan.

The government allocated Rs 240 crore for the new scheme named Mukhya Mantri Nijut Moina which aims to support 10 lakh girls with financial grant as admission incentive to continue their education to higher secondary, graduation and post-graduation studies.

This initiative aims at bolstering the government's mission to eliminate child marriages. These government schemes come in addition to the existing benefits like free admission, provision of scooty, etc.

Mukhya Mantri Mahila Udyamita Abhiyaan, another ambitious mission aims at promoting entrepreneurial spirit of women. The state government will provide an entrepreneurship fund of Rs 10,000 to each of 39,67,743 members of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in rural areas.

Neog stated that an extra 2.5 lakh recipients will be included in the current group of 27 lakh beneficiaries of the Orunodoi poverty alleviation program, which provides Rs 1,250 monthly to women's accounts. This will extend the program's coverage to over 30 lakh households in the state.

The Finance minister also announced the third phase of micro finance loan waiver scheme worth Rs 550 crore and said support will be offered to those poor women borrowers, whose accounts became non-performing assets before March 31, 2021 and have an outstanding principal amount between Rs 25,001 and Rs 50,000.

Not only this, the Interim Budget 2024 presented by Union Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman also laid a significant focus on Nari Shakti or women empowerment through entrepreneurship, ease of living, and dignity.

According to Nirmala Sitharaman, the empowerment of women through entrepreneurship and ease of living has gained momentum in the last 10 years, along with the female enrolment in higher education which has also gone up by 28 percent in the period. There has been a rise in female labour force participation rate from 23.3 percent in 2017-18 to 37 percent in 2022-23, as per the government.

To expand opportunities for women in entrepreneurship, the Finance Minister stated that 30 crore Mudra Yojana loans have been disbursed to female entrepreneurs in the country.

Further, the government initially aimed to create 2 crore 'Lakhpati Didis' (women with annual earnings of Rs1 lakh and more) by imparting marketable skills like plumbing, LED bulb-making, drone operation, and repair to SHG members. This target has now been expanded to include 3 crore women.

Also Read: Celebrating Birth Anniverary of Sarojini Naidu: National Women's Day