Women equality and empowerment are burning issues in India, at present. During CM Vasundhara Raje’s tenure in Rajasthan, the state has registered incredible improvement in terms of child sex ratio (938 girls per 1000 boys). In last three years, Raje government had introduced many women-centric schemes to accomplish various objectives, such as—
- Providing shelters to abandoned kids (Ashray),
- Discouraging female foeticide (Mukhbir),
- Providing financial help to aspiring daughters (Rajshree and Shubhlakshmi) and
- Empowering the eldest female women of the family with financial assistance (Bhamashah).
Yesterday, Rajasthan has received the President’s Naari Shakti Award (Women Empowerment Award) for exemplary implementation of Centre’s ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ scheme. The NFHS-4 (National Family Health Survey) reports for this year lists various achievements for the state, which include—
- Increased participation of women in household decisions (81.7%)
- Decline in violent encounters,
- Decline in child marriage rates (29.8%)
Despite these achievements, patriarchal views and lack of awareness, which is the root cause of biasness and crimes against women still persists in the society. To make society aware of the role played by a woman, it’s essential to target patriarchy, prejudice and biasness. Concurrently, it’s important for the government to make women aware of this right.
To accomplish these goals, this women’s day, Raje government announced a new scheme under Rajasthan Budget 2017. With Chirali Yojana, the CM envisions a state where women are not just powerful, but adept, aware and enjoy the same rights, duties and perks as their counterparts.
What is Chirali Yojana All About?
Chirali yojana aims at generating awareness on gender biasness, violence and prejudice against women. This scheme will be implemented in 7 districts of Rajasthan, with community participation and involvement. The main objectives of the scheme is to—
- Eliminate chauvinistic views at family level,
- Make women acquainted with their rights,
- Empower females with tools so that they can raise their voices against biasness and
- Counsel younger generations so they can shun bigoted views.
Concurrently, the government has announced the 15 new Aparajita centres for one stop crisis management in various districts of Rajasthan, where women can report crimes and incidents of violence. They can also seek help from responsible citizens of the society, in case of crimes.
Compared to last year, the funds allotted for women empowerment is 17.06% more than the last year, which is 1904 crores 51 lakhs.
With two powerful schemes coming along, it indeed is a happy women’s day for all the women in Rajasthan.
