PM stresses on women issues
NEWDELHI: Addressing the nation on India’s 74th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday spoke on a range of women’s issues including the government’s scheme to provide sanitary napkins at ₹1 and setting up of a committee to deliberate on the minimum age for marriage.
“We have worked for women empowerment. Navy and Air Force are taking women in combat. Women are now leaders, and we abolished triple talaq, got sanitary pads to women for just 1 rupee,” said PM Modi in his speech.
“In 6,000 Jan Aushadi Kendras, more than five crore sanitary napkins have been provided to women in a short period of time,” he said.
Laying emphasis on women empowerment, the Prime Minister said, “My dear countrymen, our experience says that whenever there is an opportunity for women power in India, they have brought laurels to the country, strengthened the country. Today, women are not only working in underground coal mines but also flying fighter planes, touching new heights in the sky.”
In his address from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Modi said, “We have set up a committee to deliberate on the minimum age for marriage of our daughters. We will take appropriate decisions after the committee submits its report.” The minimum age of marriage for women is 18 years and 21 for men.
Discussing the role of women in the forces, the prime minister said India is among the countries of the world where women are involved in combat roles in the Navy and the Air Force. “We are expanding NCC in border areas; special training will be provided to about one lakh new NCC cadets, out of which we will try that one-third of them are our daughters,” he said.
On the economic front, the PM said that 22 crore of the 40 crore Jan Dhan accounts belonged to women and about ₹30,000 crore have been deposited in these accounts during the pandemic.
“Out of Mudra loans worth ₹25 crore, 70% of them have been taken by our mothers and sisters. Under the PM Awaas Yojna, most registrations are under the name of women,” he added.