Women are Centrepoint of Digital India: Smriti Irani

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

“India has more than 800 million internet users. Our Prime Minister had given a call for developing Digital India. Many welfare schemes leading to women's empowerment had come into place. Women in general are doing wonders at the rural and urban levels. We now aspire to reduce the gap between these two levels and transform women into active participants in Digital India so as to achieve sustainable progress and prosperity in our country. Women are the Centrepoint of Digital India. A woman, whenever she stands on her own feet, never thinks of her own welfare. Instead, she becomes the voice of the whole women's fraternity,” stressed the union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Z Irani.

She was delivering an inaugural speech at the 2-day long W20 inception meeting in the city on Monday morning. The union Minister of State (Finance) Bhagwat Karad, the union Minister of State (Railway) Raosaheb Danve, the state’s cooperative minister Atul Save, district guardian minister Sandipan Bhumre, G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant, founder Chair of W20 Dr Gulden Turktan, Chair W20 Dr Sandhya Purecha, chief coordinator W20 secretariat Dharitri Patnaik and others were present on the dais.

Women in all spheres

Irani added, “India has always encouraged women's leadership. Out of the total 3 million women leaders in the world, 1.4 million are from India. Besides, the ratio of women as enterprisers is also growing rapidly. We currently have 230 million women enterprisers (as per Mudra loan record). W20 is the amalgamation of the best minds. I hope the outcome of the meeting will help find solutions to emerging challenges, reduce gender inequality and bring changes to scale up women's participation in myriad sectors including industry, health, and education in India and other parts of the world.”

Women are the backbone of the economy

Kant underlined, “Women-led development is the key focus of G20 Summit. It is one of the important priorities of our Prime Minister. Henceforth, we are promoting women who are emerging as leaders in different sectors. The pandemic has created an impact on 170 countries. India was safe from post-pandemic impact. Over 200 million fall under BPL and 100 million of them lost their jobs across the globe. Women and children are the major sufferers of poverty. Henceforth it is impossible to achieve sustainable development goals with women. We have set a target of achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls by 2030. Digital identity has become an integrated part of our lives. Today, we have 480 million bank accounts of women in India (76 pc). This percentage was very low in 2015. Hence W20 is looked upon with great significance and importance to bring global prosperity and give a push to productivity as women are the backbone of the economy.”

Incredible India

Dr Turktan underlined that the whole world was perturbed due to the pandemic. We all could reunite during last year’s G20 meet in Indonesia. Pinning high hopes, the W20 inception meeting in Incredible India aims at thinking something new, working on it together, and finding solutions for the welfare of the diverse society, she said.

The ministers Karad, Danve, and Save also expressed their views and welcomed the city delegates with hope for future changes. Karad said the W20 meet will help empower women on a large scale. Besides, the proposals of women intending for loans will be cleared on priority. Save underlined that Maharashtra is the first state to implement 50 per cent reservation for women. Danve said the country believes in women's leadership and participation. This is the reason why we had women as president, leader of the opposition, and other levels.

Dr Purecha made a welcome address, and Patnaik proposed a vote of thanks.