Women Entrepreneurs Felicitated At Women’s Day Event
Genuine development of society and the nation is possible only when women are empowered: NTR district collector Dr G. Lakshmisha
VIJAYAWADA: Women’s empowerment is key to inclusive development and economic growth, officials said at International Women’s Day celebrations held at the RISE centre in Guntupalli village of Ibrahimpatnam mandal on Sunday.
NTR district collector Dr G. Lakshmisha said genuine development of society and the nation is possible only when women are empowered. He noted that women play a vital role in strengthening the economy at the district, state and national levels.
Explaining the objective of the RISE centre, the collector said it was established to identify hidden talent among rural women and help them become entrepreneurs by providing technological knowledge and business skills. Nearly 5,000 women have benefited from the initiative, which has also received appreciation from NITI Aayog, he added.
Lakshmisha said the government aims to ensure at least one entrepreneur in every family, preferably a woman. He added that the country is working towards increasing per capita income to ₹65 lakh by 2047 as part of the vision of building a developed India. To support this goal, the RISE centre conducts weekly workshops on areas such as artificial intelligence, green energy and language skills.
Twenty-Point Programme Implementation Committee chairman Lanka Dinakar said the vision of “Viksit Bharat” can be realised through women’s empowerment. He noted that the Centre’s initiative to create three crore “Lakhpati Didis” aims to strengthen women economically. Andhra Pradesh already has around 18 lakh beneficiaries and plans to add another 30 lakh in the coming years, he said.
Joint collector S. Ilakkiya urged women to utilise government schemes to establish enterprises and generate employment.
During the programme, outstanding women entrepreneurs, self-help group leaders and 16 Village Organisation Assistants were felicitated. Financial assistance was also distributed, including ₹83.78 crore to 4,646 women entrepreneurs under the “One Family–One Entrepreneur” initiative, ₹829.55 crore in bank linkage loans to 6,146 SHGs, and ₹138.41 crore to 18,550 members through Streenidhi. Awareness stalls by various departments and cultural performances by children were also organised as part of the celebrations.