Women Empowerment

Battling all odds after her husband's death a decade ago, 55-year-old Damyanti Soni has started driving heavy vehicles for survival. Interestingly, her husband had taught her to operate JCB that she mastered after his demise.  Reportedly, the strong-willed woman was selected by Tata-Hitachi to showcase her operational skills in Bengaluru. Notably, she was also invited to Auto Expo in Japan in March 2020, which was cancelled due to COVID-19… read-more

Kerala government has launched the Dakshayani Velayudhan award, a yearly honour to laud the selfless women striving to empower marginalized women. Slated for International Women's Day, the award includes a cash prize worth Rs 1 Lakh, a citation and a memento. Moreover, the screening committee will select the winner from applicants working in the field for at least five years. Reportedly, the award memorializes Dakshayani - the only Dalit… read-more

What could be called as inspiring, an all-women crew of Western Railway on January 5 successfully piloted a goods train from Maharashtra to Gujarat. For this, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted, "Our women employees have set a wonderful example of empowerment." A senior official from Western Railway, Sumit Thakur, said this would inspire other women to take jobs of guards and loco pilots. The 3-member crew included Kumkum Dongre,… read-more

In a historic move, India for the first time has employed a team of 100 women officials dedicated to National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). Deployed at the River Ganga banks of UP’s Garh Mukteshwar town, the team is fully equipped and trained to provide disaster relief. While the provision allows only108 women rescuers in a 1000-membered battalion, the NDRF DG SN Pradhan said, "a mixed team will be more efficient in a disaster rescue".

The fifth National Family Health Survey (NFHS) has concluded that the number of bank accounts operated by women has increased significantly. The figure has raised from 26.4% to 76.7% in Bihar, while in Karnataka it surged to 88.7% from 59.4%. Moreover, Assam and Gujarat rose by over 73% and 45% respectively. Besides, NFHS reported notable growth in the mobile phone user base and ownership of property among women.