Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asserted that women of Uttar Pradesh have decided not to bring previous governments back to power. He launched various programmes for women in Prayagraj just months ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
While addressing the public at the launch of ‘Kanya Sumangala Yojana’, PM Modi said, “The state has worked for women empowerment. This scheme will benefit the daughters of the state.”
“Most of the beneficiaries are those girls who didn’t even have accounts until some time ago. But today they have the power of digital banking… Now daughters of UP have decided that they won’t let the previous govts come back to power,” he added.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Mathura MP Hema Malini and others were also present at the event.
Talking about the Central government’s recently-proposed bill on increasing the minimum age of marriage for women, PM Modi said, “Union Cabinet has taken a decision to increase the age of marriage of women from 18 yrs to 21 yrs. We’re making efforts to make this happen as the women want that they should get time to pursue their studies, to get equal opportunities. But some are troubled by this decision.”
“Over 30 lakh houses in UP have been built under PM Awas Yojana- about 25 lakh houses are registered in women’s name. For generations, women did not have any property here but today they own the entire house. This is what true women empowerment is,” he added.
PM Modi participated in a one of its kind program, attended by over 2 lakh women. The program was held as per the vision to empower women, especially at grass root level, by providing them with the necessary skills, incentives and resources.
The Prime Minister transferred Rs 1000 crore in bank accounts of various SHGs, also transferred money to over 1 lakh beneficiaries of Mukhya Mantri Kanya Sumangala Scheme, which provides assistance to the girl child. He also laid the foundation stone of 202 Supplementary Nutrition Manufacturing Units.
The state government aims to employ a banking correspondent sakhi in all 58,189-gram panchayats. So far, 56,875 women have been selected, out of which 38,341 have been trained and certified, said a government spokesperson.
PM Modi has already visited poll-bound Uttar Pradesh six times in the past month. He has paid a visit to Gorakhpur, Sultanpur, Varanasi, Jhansi, Greater Noida and Balrampur to unveil various projects.
