The Finance Ministry’s economic review on Monday demonstrated resolve on inclusive growth and policies that offering gender-neutral opportunities and fulfilment of basic needs not only leads to women empowerment, also but invites investments in public goods linked to them — a dividend government wants to tap to achieve developed India@100.
Citing wholerounded government’s gender intervention, including through social security initiatives, the Ministry stated that 56 per cent of 51 crore bank accounts under Jan Dhan Yojna, having total deposits of over ₹2.1-lakh, belong to women. Likewise, 68 per cent of accounts belonging to women entrepreneurs were among beneficiaries of 44.5 crore loans worth ₹26.1-lakh crore sanctioned under the MUDRA Yojana. And, under the Stand-Up India, 2.1 lakh loans have been sanctioned, of which, 84 per cent were to women entrepreneurs, said ‘The Indian Economic: A Review, January 2024’. Prepared by Department of Economic Affairs of Ministry of Finance, the review dedicated a segment on ‘Women-led development: Tapping the Gender Dividend for India@100’.
Reservation bill
The passage of the women’s reservation Bill (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (NSVA)) in September 2023, said the FinMin, “is a leap towards women’s participation in the government, empirically associated with improved institutions and greater probity”. The review pointed out that three decades after one-third of seats for women were reserved in Panchayats in 1991, their strength among elected representatives grew to 46 per cent.
“According to [a] research, reservations for women in panchayats have led to greater investment in public goods closely linked to women’s concerns, such as drinking water and public roads. Besides, female political representation is also associated with better child health and primary education outcomes, the Ministry observed. The government move is also in sink with global trend. The G20 Summit, under India’s Presidency last year, identified women-led development as one of its six priorities to work on. Claudia Goldin was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2023 for her work on key drivers of gender differences in the labour market, which also showed, according to the Ministry, rising attention towards women’s workforce participation and outcomes.
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Similarly, it said that women-led self help groups (SHGs) have a positive, statistically significant effect on women’s economic, social, and political empowerment, with positive effects on empowerment achieved through various route such as familiarity with handling money, financial decision-making, improved social networks, asset ownership and livelihood diversification. “The Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM), which is the government’s SHG programme covering nearly nine crore women through 83 lakh SHGs, has been empirically associated with women empowerment, self-esteem enhancement, reduced social evils; and additionally, medium impacts in terms of better education, higher participation in village institutions and better access to government schemes,” the Review read.
Recently, the government has targeted the creation of 2 crore ‘Lakhpati Didis’ (women with annual earnings of ₹1 lakh and more) through skilling SHG members with marketable skills such as plumbing, LED bulb making, and operation of drones and repair, etc.
Refering to Digital India, the FM stated that more than 53 per cent of the beneficiaries of the Prime Minister’s Rural Digital Literacy Campaign (PMGDISHA) are women as of July 2023.
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Construction of over 11 crore toilets under ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’, clean cooking gas connections to nearly 10.1 crore women below the poverty line under ‘Ujjwala Yojana’ and connecting over 14.1 crore out of 19.3 crore rural households with tap drinking water connections under ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ have transformed the lives of women by reducing the drudgery and care burden, the reivew noted. These initiatives, as per the Ministry, have a disproportionately positive impact on women, addressing concerns of safety and dignity, besides freeing up time and energy for productive work.