Budget 2024: Empowerment of women through entrepreneurship, ease of life and dignity has gained momentum in the last 10 years, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today on February 1, 2024, while presenting the Budget in the Lok Sabha.
Sitharaman in her pre-election Budget, which is technically a vote on account and is popularly called Interim Budget, highlighted that out of the total Rs 44.46 crore loans sanctioned under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) in 2023, Rs 30.64 crore (69%). were sanctioned to women.
Further under Stand-up India (SUPI), as on November 24, 2023, out of 2.09 lakh loans sanctioned, 1.77 lakh (84%) were sanctioned to women entrepreneurs.
She also highlighted facts such as female enrollment in higher education increasing by 28% in the last 10 years.
In STEM courses, girls and women make up 43% of enrolment, one of the highest in the world. All this is reflected in the increasing participation of women in the workforce, said FM Sitharaman.
During the Budget presentation, one important development in this space that stood out was the enhanced targeting of “Lakhpati Didis” the self-help group workers who earn a sustainable income of at least one lakh rupees per annum.
A robust number of 83 lakh SHGs with nine crore women are transforming rural socio-economic landscape with empowerment and self-reliance. Their success has helped almost 1 crore women to become lakhpati didi already.
Buoyed by the success, it has been decided to enhance the target of lakhpati didi from Rs 2 crore to Rs 3 crore, the minister told the parliament in his budget speech.
Read also: Union Budget 2024 Highlights: Key announcements from FM Sitharaman’s Budget 2024
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Apart from this, making Triple Talaq illegal, one-third of women’s reservation in Lok Sabha and state assemblies, and giving more than 70% of houses under PM Awas Yojana in rural areas to women as sole or joint owners also significantly improved their dignity, she added
FM stated that the government’s focus continues to remain on four main groups — Poor, farmers, women and youth.