Nagaon (Assam), Jan 30: Empowerment of women is not only essential for equity but also constitutes a critical element in poverty reduction, economic growth and strengthening of civil society, Union Minister for Minority Affairs Najama Heptullah has said here.
“Women and children are worst sufferers in society and their empowerment is a critical element for our development,” Heptullah said while inaugurating the ‘Nai Roshni’ programme on Friday, implemented by her ministry for leadership development and empowerment of women belonging to minority communities.
The programme aims at empowering and instilling confidence in women by providing knowledge, tools and technique for interacting with government systems, banks and intermediaries at all level, the minister said.
The scheme is implemented through NGOs and training is provided for leadership of women through participation in decision making, educational programme for women, health and hygiene, legal rights for women, financial literacy, Swacha Bharat, life skills, advocacy for social and behavioural change.
In the last financial year, the Ministry trained 70,000 women including 3,450 from Assam and spent Rs 14 crore for it. Up to December last year, 35,775 women from 15 states were trained and Rs 10.67 crore were spent, she said. The last year’s figures included 4,600 from Assam.
Heptullah also launched Online Application Management system to bring transparency and speed in the procedure.
DRISTI foundation will train girls belonging to BPL families under Maulana Azad National Academy for Skill Development. The project will be implemented in Kodomoni Senior Madrasa, Singari Senior Madrasa, Simoluguri Senior Madrasa and Farimukh Senior Madrasa.
The target is 1,000 students per madrasa and they will be trained on various trades and scholarship provided to them.
