Prime Minister Narendra Modi witnessed a successful demonstration of agricultural drones by ‘Namo Drone Didis’ from 10 different locations of the country and distributed drones to over 1000 women across the world on 11th March at Sashakt Nari- Viksit Bharat programme organized at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in Pusa, Delhi. PM Modi also felicitated several ‘Lakhpati Didis’ who have become successful with the help and support of Deendayal Upadhyaya Antyodaya Yojana- National Rural Livelihoods Mission and are motivating the members of other Self-Help Groups.
‘Namo Drone Didi’ Scheme
Namo Drone Didi initiative targets to provide 15000 women-controlled Self Help Groups with agricultural drones and train rural women to become drone pilots. The drones will be used to monitor crops, spray fertilizers and sow seeds. The motive of this scheme is to boost economic empowerment and independence among women belonging to rural areas.
PM on Women Empowerment
PM Modi on Monday mentioned numerous schemes introduced by his government for the women of India that are fostering women empowerment throughout the country. He said that his victory in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls for the third consecutive time will mark a new step towards the rise of women. Harking back to the previous government he said that it didn’t pay attention to the problems of women and slammed the opposition parties like Congress for mocking and insulting him for his initiatives on women empowerment.
The PM also claims that he is the first to address a lot of issues faced by women earlier such as the lack of toilets, the use of sanitary napkins, hardships of traditional cooking fuels such as coal, firewood and cow-dung, women’s need for individual bank accounts, etc. According to him around 8 lakh crore has been handed out to the women of our country through various schemes so far and as of today he disbursed about Rs. 8000 crore as Bank Loans with subsidies and Rs. 2000 crore as Capitalization Support Funds to the Self Help Groups.
The Other Way Around
Despite of all these bombastic schemes launched by the ruling party for the empowerment of women, the actual condition of women in India is still a question mark. India has ranked 128th out of 177 countries worldwide in Women Peace and Security Index according to the 2023 reports of the Georgetown Institute for Women Peace and Security. In 2022, India has bagged the 7th position among the top 10 worst countries where women are subjected to political violence. According to the reports of NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) crimes against women in India have gone up by 4% throughout 2022 with BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh being on top among the other states of the country.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s remarks in an essay regarding the role of women in Indian culture on his website Mantrushakti Bharatiya Sanskriti Ke Sandharbh Mein in 2014 might draw attention to this concern. He wrote that women need protection and are not capable of being independent as “it may lead to wastefulness or destruction of women”.
The BJP has been inconceivably silent on numerous incidents of violence against women including the rape cases in Hathras, Unnao, Kathua, and Manipur, (all somehow or the other had connections with the ruling party) and the sexual harassment case lodged against the WFI chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
The opposition parties often call the BJP a misogynist party because of its derogatory comments targeted at women. NCP MP Supriya Sule said while speaking on the Women’s Representation Bill Debate at the Lok Sabha in 2023 that she was once told to “go home and cook” by a former Maharashtra BJP Chief. A Senior DMK leader Kanimozhi also stated that the BJP has always been against women, in an interview in 2021 referring to the rampant crimes against women in the BJP-ruled state, Uttar Pradesh.
