Page 20 - NIS English January 16-31

Cover story Women Empowerment

Stand Up Women, Stand Up India

he unfair notion that women are an of over 8,000 women entrepreneurs who are
Teconomic burden is losing ground. Women operating from GeM platform successfully.
have carved out their space in the Startup Features like ‘Womaniya’ and ‘SWAYATT’
sector, enabled by the Government’s Stand have been provided specially for women in
Up India scheme which helps in securing GeM. Under the MUDRA scheme too around
loans between Rs 10 Lakh to 1 Crore. Till 70 per cent beneficiaries are women. In rural
April 30, 2020, over Rs 17,000 Crore were India, 66 Lakh Self Help Groups have been
sanctioned to 76,451 female entrepreneurs. promoted under the National Rural Livelihood
Women are breaching traditional barriers Mission, alleviating poverty and providing
and marching ahead in the MSME sector them with good standard of living. More than
too. The Government is 54 per cent of 38.73 Crore Jan
ensuring that at least 3 per Dhan Yojana beneficiaries are
cent of all procurement is women. Online e-marketing
sourced from women led platform Mahila e-Haat,
micro, small and medium supports over 32,000 women
enterprises (MSMEs). This entrepreneurs/SHGs/NGOs
has been achieved through offering more than 7,000
the successful registration products and services.
Learn the skill of winning from them...

Co-founders of Green Biotech Solutions Pvt Ltd Co-founder of Early Foods Private Ltd Shalini
Geetashori Yumnam and Dr Asem Sundari Devi Santosh Kumar and Vijaylakshmi Nagaraj are
belong to Imphal in Manipur. They are the winners from Maharashtra. They are the winner of
of the National Entrepreneurship Award for 2019 for National Entrepreneurship Award for 2019 in
category A2 of Food Processing, Agriculture and the A1 category. Shalini started Early Foods
Forestry. They struggled to realise their dreams of with her mother from a small room. When
setting up an Organic-based company in the state. she started this work, she was the mother
Their company provides free advice to farmers on of a seven-year-old child. Early Foods is an
bio fertilizer, bio pesticides, aquaculture, animal organic food company which produces pearl
husbandry and environment management. They millet-based porridge and other snacks of 25
have given employment to 25 women to make kinds. The company gets over 15,000 orders
them self-reliant per month

Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan was 28.3 per cent to 22.7 per cent from 2013 to 2018.
launched in 2016. The scheme provides assured, Over 1.82 Crore women have been benefitted
comprehensive and quality antenatal care, free from Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana.
of cost, universally to all pregnant women on the Understanding the importance of skilled
9th of every month. The scheme has led to a professional to attend all pregnancies, there are
fall in maternal mortality ratio. As per the official many other schemes such as Surakshit Matritva
statistics, maternal mortality ratio (per 1,00,000 Aashwasan Initiative, Mission Indradhanush,
live births) has fallen significantly from 167 in POSHAN Abhiyan, and Kilkari that works for
2011-13 to 122 in 2015-17. Further, the neonatal the betterment of maternal health by providing
mortality rate (per 1,00,000 live births) fell from women timely guidelines and medications.
18 New India Samachar