Relevance: GS I (Social Issues) & GS II (Social Justice) | Source: PIB

1. What is the Big Change?

Earlier, the government’s focus was on “Women’s Development” (giving basic help to women). Now, India has shifted to “Women-Led Development”.

• The New Goal: Treating women as the main leaders who will build a Developed India by 2047.
• The Logic: When a woman earns her own money, her children get better education, her family becomes healthier, and the whole village grows.

2. Protecting the Girl Child

• Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana: This is a simple bank savings scheme for girls. Parents can deposit small amounts of money over the years. This fund ensures the girl has enough money for her higher studies and marriage when she grows up.

3. Changing the Villages with Technology

• Self-Help Groups: Millions of rural women are joining hands to form small, cooperative groups to save money and start local businesses.
• Lakhpati Didi: The government has set a massive target to ensure that these village women earn at least ₹1 lakh every year. This turns poor women into independent business owners.
• Namo Drone Didi: This is a highly modern scheme. The government is training 15,000 village women to fly and repair farming drones. They will rent these drones to local farmers to spray crop medicines.

This proves that village women can easily master high-tech machines and earn a good new income.

4. Supporting Women in Business

• PM Mudra Yojana: This scheme gives small bank loans for running daily businesses without asking for any property as a guarantee. Almost 70% of these loans have been given to women.
• Stand-Up India: This scheme gives large bank loans specifically to women (and Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe communities) to help them start a completely new factory or business from scratch.

UPSC Value Box

With reference to government initiatives promoting women’s empowerment in India, consider the following statements:

1. The Namo Drone Didi scheme trains rural women to use agricultural drones so they can rent them to farmers.
2. The Stand-Up India scheme gives bank loans specifically to women to set up completely new (greenfield) businesses.
3. Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana is a medical insurance scheme that provides free hospital care for pregnant women.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Correct Answer: (a)