India has mostly been a male-dominated society and women in India have always been fighting for equality. There are a lot of issues persisting in India like female infanticide and child marriage. Women don’t actually feel safe in India. This is not just in India and is common in different countries and on the whole, the world is moving towards building a society that respects and treats women equal to men.
With these issues, the Government of India is working on empowering women using various schemes. Now, we can find a lot of women trying to come out into the world in spite of having a conservative background. Most girls have access to a good education. Government of India has brought a lot of schemes into existence to make this possible and has been a huge contribution to this. Here are a few schemes introduced by Government for women empowerment.
A Few Schemes Introduced By The Government Of India
Bhartiya Mahila Bank Business Loan
Women are making mark in all the fields. Although a huge number of women have emerged to be successful, there are plenty who needs motivation and support to start or continue their venture. Bhartiya Mahila Bank Business Loan is scheme that supports women by giving them loan upto Rs.20 Crore. This bank has the vision to provide economic empowerment to women. The loan limit via this source is Rs.20 Crores.
Mudra Yojana Scheme
It is a Government of India initiative that provides business loans to women who want to open day-care-center, beauty salon or a small venture like these. The loan granted loan amount lies in Rs.50,000 and Rs.50 lakh. Also this scheme does not require any collateral or guarantor if the loan amount is below 10 Lakh. The women are given Mudra cards with which they can withdraw 10% of their loan.
Annapurna Scheme
Most of the Indian women have a talent of cooking delicious food. This loan is provided to women in the food catering industry, still establishing their small scale businesses. The loan allows these women entrepreneurs to avail it as capital requirements like buying equipment and utensils, setting up trucks, etc. Under this scheme, women can sell packed food items and snacks which is one of the most common businesses that women entrepreneurs scope out and excel in since it is something that housewives have been managing all their lives and are accustomed to. This boosts their sales since they have a chance at better capital and new products to kickstart their business than they could otherwise afford. The loan limit is Rs. 50,000 under the scheme.
Dena Shakti Scheme:
This scheme is limited only to women entrepreneurs in the fields of agriculture, retail, manufacturing, are small enterprises The maximum limit is decided according to the sector they are exploring or planning to open business in. The loan limit is Rs.20 Lakhs
Pradhanmantri Rojgar Yojana:
The Pradhanmantri Rojgar Yojana (PMRY) supports women financially and socially. This scheme aims at creating skill-based, self-employment through women entrepreneurs and smart minds at work being utilized for monetary independence. This scheme covers both urban and rural areas and was developed through several amendments in cost, eligibility, and subsidy limits. The loan subsidy amount is up to 15% of the project cost with an upper ceiling of Rs. 12,500 per borrower as a restriction. The scheme applies to all types of ventures in industries, trade and services. The age limit is 35 years and loan limit for business is Rs. 2 Lakh while for service and industry, Rs. 5 Lakh.
Udyogini Scheme:
This scheme provides loans with low rate of interest, comparatively less than skyrocketing private sector banks. This is only valid for those who have a family income of less than Rs. 40,000 per annum. They especially encourage loans in the trade and service sector and the cap amount for the same is Rs. 1 Lakh.
Mahila Udyam Nidhi Scheme:
This scheme aims to meet the gap in equity. It promotes MSMEs and small sector investments in different industries to grow and excel in their areas. This also encourages the reconstruction of SSI units that are deemed incapable but are actually viable to save. A period of 10 years is given to the debtor to repay the loan and the limit for the loan is Rs.10 Lakhs.
Beti Bachao Beti Padhao
This is a social campaign that was launched in 2015 and is run by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The initial funding was about 100 crores.
The main reason for the government to come up with this scheme was that the child gender ratio kept declining majorly because of female foeticide and selective abortion. The main objective here was to save the girl child and also educate the girl child. This has proved to make girls financially independent and self-sustaining. With this scheme, girl child or birth of a girl child is celebrated and girls are encouraged to study and follow their dreams.
One-Stop Center
This is a 24-hour helpline dedicated to women. This was implemented with the help of the Nirbhaya fund. These are established in multiple locations in the country and has various services. This includes a shelter for women, legal or medical help, counselling and so on. The toll-free number is 181. They also provide video call facility to people who need to record a statement for police complain registration. This can be used even in case of domestic violence and sexual assaults. This has hence proved to be useful and is a place where women can open up and come up with their problems and try to get a reasonable solution for the same.
Working Women’s Hostel
Not all women in India have a safe place to stay. With crime against women rising in the country, it is a requirement for women to have a safe place to stay and travel to work. Under this scheme, the government provides a safe place for working women with the family. It also provides facility for daycare for kids. This can be availed only if the gross income of the woman is less than Rs. 50,000 per month in metropolitan and less than Rs. 35,000 per month in other cities. This is a very successful scheme as statistics prove that nearly 66,000 women have benefitted from this and more than 890 hostels have been sanctioned. A minimal rent is charged from them depending on whether it is a single bedroom, double bedroom or dormitories.
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Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme For The Children Of Working Mothers
It is always difficult for working women to manage family and especially kids who are too young to take care of themselves. This scheme is for helping such women to take care of their children. This scheme provides daycare for the kids of working mothers. This is when the kid is 6 months old to 6 years old. The scheme also helps kids get better nutrition and hence improve the health of underprivileged kids. It has also proved to help kids develop emotionally and socially and also get some education.
Many working women find this very useful and try their best to utilize this as they don’t just take care of kids but also make sure that they are healthy and educated in the meantime.
SWADHAR Scheme
This is to help women who are going through difficult times. This is more of psychological support. For example, there are women who are released from jail, survived through disasters, trafficked and rescued, run away due to issues, widows left out of the family and so on. This scheme is to help those women survive and get back to normal. This scheme also supports women who are affected by HIV and mentally challenged. Women in these situations are given proper psychological treatment and support.
Vidhi Punamiya
STEP Scheme
STEP here is short for Support to Training and Employment Program. This is to help women get themselves a decent paying job to support themselves and their family. They provide specific training to get a job or even become an entrepreneur.
Mahila E-Haat
Mahila E-Haat is to support women entrepreneurs. We know that there are a lot of women entrepreneurs in India now. This is an online marketing platform wherein entrepreneurs and Self-help groups can put up their products and let others know about it.
Mahila Shakthi Kendra
This is majorly for women in rural areas. This scheme was launched in the year 2017 to develop the lives of rural women. There are a lot of women, especially in rural areas who do not have the access to proper education and skill development. Under this scheme, women get access to digital education, nutrition, health and even skill development. They also get a chance for employment.
Ashwini
There are a lot of other schemes too. Government has been doing a lot towards developing women and ensuring the safety for women. There is not much awareness of most of the schemes yet. Promoting awareness of these can help women a lot in developing themselves and their family. Employment opportunities for women and mental support have now become essential for most of the women in the country and the Government of India is doing a good job with it. Better awareness and proper usage of these schemes can be a huge advantage.
