Women Empowerment In India

As today women are equal with men. But we have to give more importance to develop rural women empowerment. We have to put a special focus on empowering women and girls, becausethey hold the key to long-lasting social change in communities. Empowering women must be a united approach, a cause that requires continued attention and stewardship by all. We need to augment the efforts for empowering women and enhance their progress. It is our moral, social and constitutional responsibility to ensure their progress by providing them with equal rights and opportunities.

Today women with their smartness, grace and elegance have conquered the whole world. With their hard work and sincerity, they have excelled in each and every profession. Women are considered to be more honest, meticulous, and efficient and hence more and more companies prefer hiring women for better performance and result. Nobody ever thought of this before, to give preference to female job seekers.

Google looks at getting more women online

Leading Internet firm Google Inc. announced a campaign to help 50 million women get online in the next year. The company said that it has found that even as India is on its way to become the second largest Internet market in the world, overtaking the U.S., only one third of India’s online users are women. Google’s mass media campaign will promote a specially designed website, www.hwgo.com, which will host content covering the basics of the Internet and special content that is relevant for women in India, in both Hindi and English. Women will also be able to call a toll free helpline 18004199977 to get answers for any queries they may have about the Internet. Google has partnered with Intel, HUL and Axis Bank for this. Intel has announced that it will launch a mobile app called ‘Easy Step’ for women that will be available on the Play Store.

Notable women in independent India

• 1848: Jyotirao Phule, along with his wife Savitribai Phule, opened a school for girls in Pune, India. Savitribai Phule became the first women teacher in India.
• 1879: John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune established the Bethune School in 1849, which developed into the Bethune College in 1879, thus becoming the first women's college in India.
• 1883: Chandramukhi Basu and Kadambini Ganguly became the first female graduates of India and the British Empire.
• 1886: Kadambini Ganguly and Anandi Gopal Joshi became the first women from India to be trained in Western medicine.
• 1905: Suzanne RD Tata becomes the first Indian woman to drive a car.^[44]
• 1916: The first women's university, SNDT Women's University, was founded on 2 June 1916 by the social reformer Dhondo Keshav Karve with just five students.
• 1917: Annie Besant became the first female president of the Indian National Congress.
• 1919: For her distinguished social service, Pandita Ramabai became the first Indian woman to be awarded the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal by the British Raj.
• 1925: Sarojini Naidu became the first Indian born female president of the Indian National Congress
• 1927: The All India Women's Conference was founded.
• 1944: Asima Chatterjee became the first Indian woman to be conferred the Doctorate of Science by an Indian university
• 1947: On 15 August 1947, following independence, Sarojini Naidu became the governor of the United Provinces, and in the process became India's first woman governor.
• 1951: Prem Mathur of the Deccan Airways becomes the first Indian women commercial pilot.
• 1953: Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit became the first woman (and first Indian) president of the United Nations General Assembly
• 1959: Anna Chandy becomes the first Indian woman judge of a High Court (Kerala High Court)^[45]
• 1963: Sucheta Kriplani became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, the first woman to hold that position in any Indian state.
• 1966: Captain Durga Banerjee becomes the first Indian woman pilot of the state airline, Indian Airlines.
• 1966: Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay wins Ramon Magsaysay award for community leadership.
• 1966: Indira Gandhi becomes the first woman Prime Minister of India
• 1970: Kamaljit Sandhu becomes the first Indian woman to win a Gold in the Asian Games
• 1972: Kiran Bedi becomes the first female recruit to join the Indian Police Service.^[46]
• 1979: Mother Teresa wins the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the first Indian female citizen to do so.
• 1984: On 23 May, Bachendri Pal became the first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest.
• 1989: Justice M. Fathima Beevi becomes the first woman judge of the Supreme Court of India.
• 1997: Kalpana Chawla becomes the first India-born woman to go into space.
• 1992: Priya Jhingan becomes the first lady cadet to join the Indian Army (later commissioned on 6 March 1993)^[49]
• 1994: Harita Kaur Deol becomes the first Indian woman pilot in the Indian Air Force (IAF), on a solo flight.
• 2000: Karnam Malleswari became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal (bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics at Sydney)
• 2002: Lakshmi Sahgal became the first Indian woman to run for the post of President of India.
• 2004: Punita Arora became the first woman in the Indian Army to don the highest rank of Lieutenant General.
• 2007: Pratibha Patil becomes the first woman President of India.
• 2009: Meira Kumar became the first woman Speaker of Lok Sabha, the lower house in Indian Parliament

Banking for women, by women

BANGALORE: There's a freshness about this bank and the feminine touch is quite in evidence. It's not just that the counters are manned by women, the visitors are mostly women and there's a woman calling the shots in the manager's cabin. The loan applications too have a feminine flavour, like the one for renovating a kitchen.

The Bharatiya Mahila Bank, India's first state-owned bank for women, opened shop on Tuesday in seven cities. The one in Bangalore at Hudson Circle, next to the police station, caters mainly for women.

The under-construction ground floor is already buzzing with activity. The smell of fresh paint still lingers in the air here and the enthusiasm of women is infectious. In the first three days, the bank has opened 40 accounts and sanctioned five loans.

While men can open accounts and use it for regular banking, women get preference in the 80:20 ratio. The bank offers better interest on saving bank accounts, and gives loans to self-help groups, entrepreneurs and students at lower rates.

The Nav Rasoi scheme is rather unique. You can get a loan for a minimum of Rs 50,000 and a maximum of Rs 7 lakh to renovate your kitchen. It can be for civil work, purchase of electronic appliances, furniture and utensils and crockery, all at the attractive interest of 2.5% over the base rate. However, there are no takers yet for it at the Bangalore branch.

"There's not much awareness yet about this scheme. The challenge for us would be to compete with established banks. But women will certainly be attracted to this bank. This is the first time that I'm seeing so many women walk into a bank. Customers in other banks are usually men. We already have self-help groups and NGOs walking in," said chief manager Jyothilakshmi V G.

Women like Prabha G B, who runs two beauty parlours in the city, are thrilled about it. "I wanted to renovate my beauty clinic and it's much easier to convince officials here about out business. They understand it better," she said.

Agrees Rathi M Sahana, an entrepreneur who runs an export business: "There's a popular belief that men are better at business. They can convince people faster and sometimes use authority. Many women entrepreneurs are not aware of the benefits and easily get discouraged when they're turned back. Interacting with women here and explaining our requirements is easy." The branch has sanctioned loans for two self-help groups and an education loan.

Of the seven employees, only one is a man. Asked what it feels like to work here, Bhupathi Nial from Odisha smiled gently: "I'm proud to be part of this bank which will empower the other half of India."

For a country with only 26% of women having bank accounts, this branch will surely infuse a sense of empowerment.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Banking-for-women-by-women/articleshow/26170777.cms

India’s first all-women bank inaugurated

MUMBAI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here on Tuesday inaugurated the country's first all-women bank, Bharatiya Mahila Bank ( Indian Women's Bank). With the inauguration of the bank at the Air India building in Nariman Point, seven branches became operational across the country.

The other six branches were inaugurated through video-conferencing by the prime minister and UPA (United Progressive Alliance) chairperson Sonia Gandhi who was also present at the event.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Indias-first-all-women-bank-inaugurated/articleshow/26046842.cms?intenttarget=no