Lok Sabha Question No. 1164 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-02-11
Subject: Empowerment of Women
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Smt. Rachna Banerjee

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1164 ANSWERED ON 11/02/2025

## EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN

## 1164. SMT. RACHNA BANERJEE:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  gender  considerations  being  integrated  into  rural development policies and programme, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the steps taken by the Government to empower rural women economically and socially, especially in terms of land ownership,  access  to  credit,  and  leadership  roles  and  the details thereof during the last five years, year-wise; and
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  any  policy  to  ensure  that  rural youth are equipped with the skills and opportunities to thrive in the evolving rural economy, if so, the details thereof along with
- the achievements made so far?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI KAMLESH PASWAN)

(a) to (c): Ministry  of  Rural  Development  (MoRD)  accords  priority for gender empowerment through its policies and programmes. The Gender Programme is integrated within DeendayalAntyodayaYojana -National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) interventions. DAYNRLM recognizes addressing gender inequality as a pre-requisite to social and economic empowerment. The Programme builds capacity of State Rural Livelihood Mission  (SRLM) to integrate Gender in its operations and create an architecture of support at the community level for women's collectives to identify and take action on gender discriminatory practices. Series of training and perspective-building inputs are made available on these platforms and are provided to Social  Action  Committees  (SAC)  under  Village  organization  (VO), and  cluster  level  federation  (CLF)  by  the  trained  pool  of  Gender Cadres. These bodies primarily function on the premise of uplifting

women's condition and position in society by identifying, acknowledging, and addressing issues of discrimination. The program also conducts several large-scale advocacy outreach through the National Gender Campaign (NayiChetna). DAY NRLM is empowering women SHGs to access credit from Banks from Banks. Credit  accessed  by  women  Self  Help  Groups  during  the  last  five years is as under:

1.         2019-20   Rs.   70,977 crores
2.         2020-21   Rs.   84,717 crores
3.         2021-22   Rs. 1,20,477crores
4.         2022-23   Rs. 1,57,370crores
5.         2023-24   Rs. 2,07,820crores

Further, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee  Act,  2005,  being  implemented  by  MoRD  requires  that priority shall be given to women in such a way that at least onethird of the beneficiaries shall be women who have registered and requested  for  work.  Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGS  is  a  gender-neutral scheme that promotes participation of  women by providing  wage parity with men, provision of separate schedule of rates of wages for  women, facilities for crèche, work-side sheds for children and child care services. In convergence  with  the  National  Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), women mates have also been introduced,  which  again  facilitates  the  participation  of  women.

The rate of participation of women (percentage of women persondays  out  of  a  total  in  percentage)  under  Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGS from 2019-20 to 2023-24 is given below:-

| Financial Year               |   2019-20 |   2020-21 |   2021-22 |   2022-23 |   2023-24 |
|------------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Women participation rate (%) |     54.78 |     53.19 |     54.82 |     57.47 |      58.9 |

(As per NREGASoft)

MoRD  is  implementing  a  women-specific  Scheme  i.e.  Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS) under National Social  Assistance  Programme  (NSAP).  The  central  pension  under the IGNWPS  is Rs. 300/per month per beneficiary. State Governments  have  been  advised  to  contribute  at  least  an  equal amount from their resources. The applicant must be a widow in the age group of 40-79 years. The applicant should belong to a Below Poverty Line (BPL) household according to the criteria prescribed by the Central Government. On reaching the age of 80 years, the

beneficiaries  get  enhanced  assistance  of  Rs.500/-  per  month.  At present widow beneficiaries are getting pension between Rs. 300/to Rs. 2800/- depending on the State pension amount which varies from State to State. At present, the ceiling under the scheme for all States and UTs is pegged at 67.36 lakh.

MoRD  is  also  implementing two  welfare  programmes  in  skill development for rural poor youth under NRLM as follows:-

- i. DeenDayalUpadhyayaGrameenKaushalyaYojana (DDU-GKY) which  is  a  placement-linked  skill  development  program  for rural poor youth in the age group of 15-35 years. It empowers the  rural  poor  youth  with  employable  skills  and  facilitates their  participation  in  regular  labour  markets,  thus  providing them with jobs having regular monthly wages at or above the minimum  wages.  Under DDU-GKY,  coverage of 33%  of women is mandatory.  The details of the total candidates and women  candidates  trained  and  placed  for  the  last  5  years under DDU-GKY is provided below:
- ii. Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETI) scheme is applicable to all the categories including women. Any unemployed youth in the age group of 18-45 years, irrespective of Caste, Creed, Religion, Gender and Economic Status,  having  aptitude  to  take  up  self-employment  or  wage employment and having some basic knowledge in the related field  can  undergo  training  under  RSETI.  The  details  of  the total  candidates  and  women  candidates  trained  and  settled for the last 5 years under RSETIs is provided below:

|                       | Total   | Total   | Women   | Women   |
|-----------------------|---------|---------|---------|---------|
| FY                    | Trained | Placed  | Trained | Placed  |
| 2019-20               | 247177  | 150214  | 126691  | 66440   |
| 2020-21               | 38289   | 49563   | 19685   | 22640   |
| 2021-22               | 97006   | 45612   | 58443   | 26040   |
| 2022-23               | 231491  | 158078  | 133519  | 92065   |
| 2023-24               | 199524  | 157456  | 122250  | 94684   |
| 2024-25 till Dec., 24 | 69086   | 53810   | 43228   | 33646   |

|                      | Total Women   | Total Women   | Total Women   | Total Women   |
|----------------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|
| FY                   | Trained       | Settled       | Trained       | Settled       |
| 2019-20              | 384025        | 281645        | 274135        | 202010        |
| 2020-21              | 255141        | 185234        | 206794        | 138538        |
| 2021-22              | 314114        | 256429        | 257107        | 212400        |
| 2022-23              | 409802        | 325880        | 331898        | 272977        |
| 2023-24              | 451419        | 350272        | 360318        | 290392        |
| 2024-25 (till 31-12- | 471968        | 299356        | 382796        | 249717        |

The  other  schemes  of  MoRD  accord  priority  to  genders  in general. The guidelines under Pradhan MantriAwaasYojana -Gramin  provides  that  allotment  of  house  shall  be  made  jointly  in the name of husband and wife, except in the case of widow/unmarried/separated person. The State may also choose to allot  the  house  solely  in  the  name  of  woman.    Under  Watershed Development  Component  of  Pradhan  MantriKrishiSinchayeeYojana (WDC-PMKSY), the  scheme  guidelines  have  enough  provisions  for giving representation to women during planning and implementation.The  four  members  watershed  development  team (WDT) set up by the project implementation agency for planning and implementation  of  the  watershed  projects  should  have  at  least  1 women member. Similarly,  the  11  members  Watershed  Committee constituted by the Gram Sabha for executing project development activities at village level should have at least two  women representatives.  Further  the  self  help  groups  constituted  under WDC-PMKSY have maximum women members.

So far as land ownership is concerned, SVAMITVA Scheme of Ministry  of  Panchayati  Raj,  which  significantly  contributes  to  the economic  empowerment  of  rural  women.  By  providing legally recognized property ownership in village Abadi areas, the scheme ensures that women, including those from marginalized communities,  have  secured  land  tenure.  Further,  as  informed  by Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Article 243D of the Constitution of India provides  for  not  less  than  one-third  reservation  for  women  in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), out of total number of seats to be filled  by  direct  election  and  out  of  total  number  of  offices  of chairpersons  of  Panchayats.  However,  21  States  and  2  UTs,  have gone even further and have made provisions of 50% reservation for women in PRIs in their respective Panchayati Raj Acts. As per the

information  available  with  the  Ministry,  21  States  namely,  Andhra Pradesh,  Assam,  Bihar,  Chhattisgarh,  Gujarat,  Haryana,  Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and 2 Union Territories  namely  "Lakshadweep" and "Dadra & Nagar haveli and Daman & Diu", have made provision for 50% reservation for women in  Panchayati  Raj  Institutions  in  their  respective  State  Panchayati Raj  Acts.  In  respect  of  remaining  States  and  Union  Territories, Constitutional provision as prescribed in Article 243D (i.e. not less than one-third reservation for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions) applies.

Government  has  been  encouraging  increased  involvement  of women in the functioning of Panchayats through active participation in the Gram Sabha meetings for preparation of Gram Panchayat Development Plans and various schemes being implemented  by  the  Panchayats.  This  Ministry  has  also  issued advisories  to  the  States  to  facilitate  holding  of  separate  Ward Sabha  and  MahilaSabha  meetings  prior  to  Gram  Sabha  meetings, enhancing the presence and participation of women in Gram Sabha and Panchayat meetings, allocation of Panchayat funds for women centric activities, combating the evil of women trafficking, female foeticide, child marriage etc.

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