Stalin Launches Women's Empowerment Schemes in Tamil Nadu
Women born to secure rights: CM
Chennai:Women were born not just to perform their duties and make sacrifices for men but were human beings entitled to equal rights and endowed with wisdom and valour that would enable them to grow in life with their own capabilities, Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Saturday.
Addressing a Women’s Day event at the Nehru Indoor stadium in which he handed over 250 ‘pink’ auto rickshaws equipped with GPS connected to telephone numbers of police department for women auto drivers, he said male domination should go from society and women should be respected and also disbursed a total loan of Rs 3190 crore to 4,42,949 women belonging to 34,073 Self-Help Groups (SHGs) all over the State.
In the districts of Chennai, Chengalpattu, Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur alone 3,584 SHGs received a total loan of Rs 46,592 crore, he said, adding that former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi was the one who launched the SHG movement in India.
Recalling the contribution of the Dravidian Movement for women’s development in the State, he said that it was the Justice Party that first gave voting rights to women, while C N Annadurai brought in the law recognizing self-respect marriage, M Karunanidhi, following his mentor Periyar E V Ramasamy’s policy, gave property rights to women.
Under DMK rule the State saw the implementation of a plethora of progressive schemes like the induction of women into the police department, the launching of the SHGs, providing 33 per cent reservation for women in local bodies, he said.
Listing the schemes launched by the present government for the welfare of women like free bus service, and opening centres to prevent child marriages and the construction of hostels for working women to provide them safe accommodation, he said that such women’s hostels would be set up at Karur, Erode, Dharmapuri, Sivaganga, Theni, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Ranipet and Karur with 700 beds at a cost of Rs 72 crore.
Other announcements he made at the event were allowing women SHG members to transport their produce free of cost in village and town buses up to a distance of 25 km, priority for women in securing loans from cooperative banks, additional discount of 5 per cent for women on all Cooptex merchandise and 10 per cent discount at all e-Seva centres.
Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, who spoke at the event said that extending all privileges enjoyed by men to women was the way to ensure real women’s rights and that the DMK government wanted to ensure economic freedom for women.
Apart from the handing over of the ‘pink autos,’ the event saw 1000 SHG women receiving identity cards, 400 beneficiaries receiving land documents under a TAHDCO scheme that entitled women to receive 50 percent subsidy, subjected to a maximum of Rs 5 lakh, for women.
