by admin | May 25, 2021 | Entrepreneurship, News, Women Entrepreneur
By Arul Louis,
United Nations : India has shared with other countries its insights on empowering rural women and girls at an event on the sidelines of the meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women drawing on its many programmes.
Leaders, diplomats and activists heard about how India was combating domestic violence, trying to right the unbalanced sex ratio, increasing women’s political participation and providing financial services and educational opportunities for women and girls.
This was at the session on “Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls: Experiences from India” organised by India’s UN Mission and UN Women on Wednesday.
The deeply entrenched patriarchal mindset is responsible for many of the problems women face and action to change them must be taken on a warfooting, said Nandini Azad, president of the Indian Co-operative Network for Women.
It has to start with resocialisation of boys, who have been trained in patriarchy and consider violence against women and various forms of oppressing them to be normal, she said and recounted her experiences with conducting workshops for boys and campaigns.
The sex ratio imbalance is a serious issue and finding a solution has to start with making the girl child valuable, Azad said.
While prosecuting sex-selected foeticide and providing for the health of girls are vital, changing the mindset is more important and India was undertaking one of the biggest campaigns for it, she added.
Subhalakshmi Nandi of UN Women India said that the ads and jingles produced for the campaign can have an impact in changing the mindset by starting a discussions on the status of women and reconsidering patriarchy.
To help women in rural areas deal with domestic violence, India has set up one-stop centres where women can get police action, psychosocial help, medical care and legal assistance, said Jupaka Madhavi, a Senior Consultant with the National Mission for Empowerment of Women.
India started with 36 such centres where women can get all the help in one place, and after two years it is now increasing them to 286 centres, she said.
The centres are called “Sakhi” or “Friend” and they are developed appropriately into places where women can find people to speak and find shelter, she said.
The data gathered about the women, their experiences and the perpetrators of violence are monitored in Delhi in realtime so they can get a picture of what is happening around the country and focus their action accordingly, Madhavi said.
Paulomi Tripathi, a diplomat at India’s UN Mission, said because of the size of India’s population and the large number of women living in rural areas, the government’s programmes to raise their status and empower them will have a global impact and be essential for achieving the UN’s sustainable development goals.
India’s efforts for bettering the lives of women and girls in rural areas are multi-dimensional and touch every vital area of their lives, she added.
Chetan Sanghi, a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Women and Child Development, said: “We would like to change the paradigm to women-led development.”
If there was one area where there is consensus across the political spectrum, it is on improving the status of women, he said, listing 24 programmes that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has undertaken to specifically benefit women.
These range from providing free cooking gas and constructing toilets to ensuring availability of financial services and digital training in rural areas, he said.
On social issues, India has taken long strides like outlawing instant divorce, he said.
It has by law increased paid maternity leave to six months from three months, he said.
Although some responses to it were not positive and some employers demurred in allowing them or discriminated in hiring because of it, virtual portals were set up for complaints and employers were made to change their decisions, he added.
In politics, there are 1.3 million elected women representatives at the local level and 20,000 of them have so far undergone training to enable them to take charge and act independently, he said.
(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business Summit, Entrepreneurship, Events, News, Social Round-up, Women Entrepreneur
Internationally acclaimed social activist Mrs. Uzma Naheed of Mumbai addressing a Press Conference in Bhopal
By Pervez Bari, Maeeshat.in,
Bhopal: A 3-day National Exhibition & Shopping Carnival which is christened as “Jazba” is being organised by women here from March 16-18, 2018 in Hindi Bhavan under the aegis of an NGO of women called IIWA, (Iqra International Women’s Alliance). It is being held under able supervision of internationally acclaimed social activist Mrs. Uzma Naheed of Mumbai.
Mrs. Uzma Naheed, president of IIWA, made the above announcement while addressing news persons here on Wednesday. She informed that IIWA is an NGO working for Socio-Economic Empowerment, (SEE), of the underprivileged women. Women need a platform, a place where they can securely make use of their talent in a financially rewarding way. With constant hard work IIWA has successfully involved 3000 underprivileged women across the country producing more than150 items.
Mrs. Naheed, who is very much active in empowering women of underprivileged class, Manoj Shrivastva, Principal Secretary in the Department of Commercial Tax, Culture and Religious Trusts and Endowments Govt. of MP, will be the Chief Guest in the inaugural function which would be held on March 16th from 10 am in Hindi Bhavan, near the Polytechnic square.
She said that IIWA encourages them by nurturing the creativity of the women’s inherent natural talents in production of various handicraft items which have ready market. IIWA uses its creativity in modifying the existing arts and crafts of each state of India as per the latest trend. IIWA believes in forming an alliance with NGOs, Media and Corporate sector; this concept was highly appreciated by the United Nations in the International Conference in Turkey.
Mrs. Naheed told a questioner that IIWA also promotes women to develop new skills or modify their products to suit current trend with continuous training and workshops. In short IIWA is a platform where talents meet opportunities to womenfolk so that they manufacture any product without disturbing their family lives. Their main concern is 1. What to make? and 2. Where to sell? IIWA helped thousands of women in establishing their own business and improve their earnings. The economic uplift of women is the main agenda of IIWA, she declared.
A poster of the 3-day National Exhibition & Shopping Carnival which is christened as “Jazba”
Meanwhile, recalling Justice Sachar Committee Report Mrs. Naheed said that it had declared that Muslims are under the Below Poverty Line and Muslim women have crossed the dangerous line. It means this is an emergency situation where it is necessary to work for economic empowerment of women. As such IIWA an NGO of women is working with all communities as poverty is a curse for every one.
“We are happy that the Govt. of India is very concerned on this subject particularly women empowerment. India is a large country where every community should come forward to serve to poor and provide them an opportunity with new ideas of business to uplift them economically. If every Indian worked for this cause it will help us to alleviate poverty by providing opportunities to the talents they have. Women are working as labourers earning paltry sum”, she stated.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, Entrepreneurship, News, Politics, Women Entrepreneur
New Delhi : Industry lobbies like the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) on Thursday announced tie-ups with NITI Aayog for the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) initiative.
The NITI Aayog’s WEC initiative aims to promote and support established as well as aspiring women entrepreneurs in India and create a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem where women do not face any gender-based barriers.
“Through a joint programme, Ficci and NITI Aayog shall provide hand-holding, mentorship, capacity building, scaling up and networking support to 100 technology led women enterprises over a period of five years,” Ficci said in a statement.
It added that Ficci and NITI Aayog will also undertake policy advocacy towards formulation of policies and schemes that foster women entrepreneurship by identifying the existing gaps.
“Ficci is fully committed to work with NITI Aayog towards strengthening the entrepreneurship ecosystem for women in particular,” said Nirankar Saxena, Deputy Secretary General, Ficci.
“The women entrepreneurship ecosystem across the world has immense potential but is faced with financial and social barriers. Our aim is to provide a level playing field to women entrepreneurs,” Saxena added.
In another move, IT body Nasscom said it has entered into a partnership with NITI Aayog to provide a continuous stimuli for innovation and growth among the women entrepreneurs in the country.
“Nasscom through its start-up warehouses in 10 states would make available space for 15 women entrepreneurs led start-up across locations on a nominal charges basis, providing top class infrastructure, high-end technology and field expertise, and curated programmes to augment the growth of these women entrepreneurs,” Nasscom said in a separate statement.
Debjani Ghosh, President-Designate, Nasscom said: “India is now on its next growth curve, led by disruptive technologies like data sciences and AI and women in our country have been leading the growth to the next level.”
“The vision behind this initiative is to consolidate and streamline efforts in this space by building state-of-the-art infrastructure to amplify the impact that Women entrepreneurs in India can indigenously create,” Ghosh added.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Entrepreneurship, Opinions, Women Entrepreneur
Virali Modi
By Bhavana Akella,
Bengaluru : Never give up — these were the simple yet profound words that kept Virali Modi, 26, fighting on after a deadly bout of malaria had her comatose for weeks and left her paraplegic and wheelchair-bound at the age of 14. In coma for 23 days, she miraculously opened her eyes on the day the doctors decided to remove her life-support and has not stopped since then, fighting for her rights — and those of other disabled people.
Manhandled and groped by railway porters when she had to board a train, Virali made “accessibility for everyone” her life’s mission in a country that is supremely indifferent to the plight of the disabled.
“I’m a disabled woman from Mumbai who loves to travel. I’ve been groped and manhandled three separate times by porters who were helping me board the train because Indian trains are not wheelchair accessible.
“I’ve had to wear a diaper because I couldn’t use the train’s lavatory. My fight is to ensure human dignity for the disabled,” Virali wrote in a public petition about a year ago that caught the attention of tens of thousands of netizens across the country, including Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi, who responded to Virali, assuring accessibility in trains.
Addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, her brutally honest petition on the platform change.org shared her ordeal as a disabled person on an Indian train.
“Most people with disabilities are restricted to their homes because our roads, public transport and most of our infrastructure are not wheelchair-friendly. The disabled don’t know where to go and how to get there, making disability almost an invisibility in our country,” Mumbai-based Virali told IANS in an interview.
While her petition and campaign — which she named “My Train Too” — garnered massive support in the digital world with over 200,000 people standing by her, not much translated into reality until she decided to take matters into her own hands.
“Several railway officials who read my petition contacted me, wanting to work on making trains accessible. Together, with the help of a few non-governmental organisations, we have set up portable ramps and foldable wheelchairs at railway stations in Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Ernakulam in Kerala, and Chennai and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu,” informed Virali, who is also a motivational speaker.
The portable ramps and aisle-size foldable wheelchairs enable the wheelchair-bound to board the train and access the train toilets with minimum or almost no additional help.
“I’m also working with the railway officials in Mumbai to make its railway stations accessible. This was all possible without any government help. Imagine how much easier the life of those with disabilities in this country will be if the government was also keen on accessibility,” quipped Virali.
India is home to at least 26 million people with disabilities (according to the Ministry of Statistics data, 2016) and Indian Railways cannot continue to treat the disabled as “pieces of luggage”, she resolved.
“Many who read my petition were not sure if it was going to change anything, but my mother (Pallavi Modi) stood by me in my fight, along with thousands of people who actually wanted to work towards better infrastructure for the disabled.”
Virali, who currently works with Mumbai-based travel portal Enable Travel that curates holidays for people with all kinds of disabilities, dismisses any alternative terms for the disabled like “differently-abled” or “divyang” (divine body), a term used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“For a Prime Minister to use such terms is regressive and insensitive. Why do we Indians have to mask the disability and introduce new terms? The term might sound liberating to someone who is not disabled, but it covers up all the struggles we face to get through each day. Such terms need to be abolished,” she asserted.
“India needs to acknowledge the elephant in the room and call it a disability. As a country, we need to be more open about disabilities.”
The Prime Minister had also launched “Accessible India” campaign in 2015 for achieving universal accessibility in the country.
“What has been achieved through the campaign over the last three years? Our struggles have been the same,” she asserted.
Having lived in Pennsylvania in northeast US for over a decade since she was four, where her father Jitesh Modi worked with a hospitality firm, Virali lamented that India’s position in accessibility is “alarming”.
“The accessible infrastructure in the US made me so independent — I was comfortable going anywhere on my own. In comparison, I feel extremely dependent and scared to go anywhere without assistance in India,” said Virali, who holds dual citizenship of India and the US.
In 2006, when she was 14, Virali had visited India for a holiday during the monsoon month of July, when she contracted malaria, and returned to Pennsylvania to her school, when the illness began to surface.
“The doctors couldn’t diagnose it as malaria and over time I began having seizures in my body which led to a respiratory and cardiac arrest and I was comatose for 23 days. I miraculously opened my eyes on the day that the doctors had decided to remove my life-support,” recalled Virali.
With years of therapy and hard work after a near-fatal condition that paralysed her neck down, she regained sensation and movement capabilities in the upper body and is currently working towards being able to walk without any support.
Hailed by her doctors as a “miracle”, Virali is now a motivational speaker delivering talks around the world, through which she emphasises on never giving up hope in life.
“I was always keen on modelling and acting since childhood. But I realised that my wheelchair is seen as a hindrance by many, as many casting directors would discourage me from pursuing it. But I overcame my fears to be the runner-up at the Miss Wheelchair India in 2014,” Virali added.
The stigma around disability in the country is “shattering, but very slowly”, she averred.
“People are becoming aware that those with disabilities are fighting for their rights. But without mainstream media portraying the disabled, we can’t expect much to change. Why don’t we see disabled actors in our films?” she asked, as she pointed to the need to sensitise children in schools about disabilities.
“I will keep raising my voice till I can contribute to making the country fully accessible,” resolved Virali.
(The weekly feature series is part of a positive-journalism project of IANS and the Frank Islam Foundation. Bhavana Akella can be contacted at bhavana.a@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Malini Gaur
By Manish Gupta,
Indore : Prem Sharma sells gutka and cigarettes near the Vijay Nagar square, but the most visible part of his tiny business is the dustbin that he dare not lose. Similar is the case with all small and big businesses across the city.
“In Indore, people fear the yellow vehicles more than the police vehicles,” he said referring to the vehicles of the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) that patrol the city round the clock and penalise those spreading litter on the streets.
The penalties for littering the city (population about 2 million) can be anything between Rs 100 and Rs 1 lakh and the IMC has done well last year, collecting spot fines to the tune of Rs 1 crore in the city.
“It’s not just fear, people respect the work being done by the IMC,” says Indore Mayor and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Malini Gaur. True, Prem Sharma takes pride in the fact that he is a resident of the city dubbed cleanest in India in a countrywide rating done by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.
The force behind the stupendous rise of Indore on the Swachh Survekshan Rankings is Mayor Malini Gaur. Indore rose from a low of 180 in 2015, to 25 in 2016 and finally to the number one rank among 434 cities in 2017.
“The day Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a call for Swachh Bharat from the ramparts of Red Fort in 2015, we decided to work on it,” said Gaur who has another two years as Mayor. “We are quite confident of retaining the top position in 2018,” she told a group of visiting correspondents. The visit was organised by BJP’s Good Governance Department for some Delhi and Karnataka journalists.
With efforts on all fronts, including establishment of integrated solid waste management, the city has brought down the Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) from 145 microgram per unit in 2015 to about 70 now, and there is plan to cut it to 40. The safe threshold is 100.
Till date, Indore has been visited by about 250 municipal authorities from across India to learn the mantra. “It’s political and administrative will, and the support of people,” says the Mayor simply.
Probing further reveals the Mayor withstood all resistance — from political parties, business lobbies and sanitation workers. It also required a conscious decision to keep out private contractors. The job is done entirely by the corporation itself — from collection and transportation to treatment and disposal.
“Private companies are not in a position to absorb the sudden shock loads, which is common in this work,” said Swachh Bharat Mission consultant to IMC Asad Warsi.
IMC engaged with various associations like those of schools, hospitals, temples and hotels to design a sustainable system that has made Indore perhaps the only city in India that is litter-free, garbage-free and free from stray animals.
The city plans to move beyond having one of the best solid waste management and sewage treatment plants. It is looking at a facility to make compost, at extracting methane gas from waste from the wholesale vegetable market to fuel some of the city buses, to making the district open defecation free (ODF), ensuring dry and wet waste segregation at a door-to-door level, and cleaning monuments and footpaths each night.
Indore has come out with a tender for sewage sludge hygienisation facility that will kill potentially infectious bacteria in the sludge and make it odour-free through radiation. It will be in place by 2019, making Indore a poster city for the BJP to advertise its achievements before the Lok Sabha polls.
Rajesh Godale, a Chief Sanitary Inspector (CSI) at IMC, while taking photographs of mechanised sweeping vehicles and footpath cleaners at work around midnight, said, “There are four CSIs who go around the city taking photographs of the cleaning process each night that is shared on a Whatsapp group as proof. I am sure Indore would be the cleanest city once again.”
To keep the city spic and span, the IMC has a budget of Rs 400 crore under the Swachh Bharat Mission, but its operational cost is just Rs 160 crore after a capital investment of Rs 150 crore. “The idea is to keep the working cost low,” said the Mayor.
Individual households pay Rs 60 and commercial units pay Rs 90 per month for Clean Indore.
—IANS
