Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Friday said women’ empowerment through cooperatives was one of the core objectives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He was speaking after inaugurating various initiatives of cooperative societies under the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India Limited (NCCF) aimed at strengthening and promoting women’ empowerment in the cooperative sector at Kundara here.
Shah said farmers and people associated with the cooperative sector had been demanding the creation of a separate union ministry for cooperation since Independence, but the demand had not been fulfilled.
“PM Narendra Modi created the Cooperation Ministry and took a major step towards rural development, agricultural development and women’s empowerment in the country,” he said.
He said significant efforts had been made to promote women power (Matrushakti) and their empowerment over the last 10-12 years under PM Modi’s leadership.
Shah said the share of women in the labour force had increased from 23 per cent in 2014-15 to 40 per cent due to various facilities provided to women workers.
Under PM Modi’s leadership, bank accounts had been opened for nearly 36 crore women, he said.
“To protect the rights of Muslim women, Narendra Modi took the step to ban Triple Talaq,” Shah said.
He said Muslim women had earlier not been allowed to perform Hajj alone, but now they could undertake the pilgrimage without a male companion.
“Today, over 11,000 daughters are serving as officers in the Indian Armed Forces,” he said.
Shah also highlighted the increase in paid maternity leave to 26 weeks under the Modi government.
He said the target of creating three crore Lakhpati Didis had been achieved before 2024 and that the BJP-led government aimed to increase the number to six crore by 2029.
A Lakhpati Didi is a self-help group (SHG) member with an annual household income exceeding Rs one lakh.
