The Minister of Women & Child Development, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi has lauded the efforts of Doordarshan to highlight the lives of those women who have distinguished themselves in taking up challenges & realizing high aspirations. The WCD Minister was speaking at an event organized in New Delhi today on the occasion of completion of 100 episodes of flagship programme for women ‘Tejaswini’, produced by Doordarshan News. “The story of each of you represents a struggle. It is a story of how you followed your hearts despite strong odds against you. I congratulate each one of you who are present here as well as those achievers who could not be present here. I commend the efforts of Doordarshan for having discovered such wonderful women and through their programme Tejaswini, motivating thousands of other women to aspire for the best”, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi said. Highlighting the new initiatives of the Ministry of Women & Child Development, the WCD Minister said that the Government is continuously striving towards all round empowerment of women. To give women a safe environment, a network of One Stop Centres (OSCs) across the country is being set up which will provide legal, medical, police & counseling assistance to women who are in distress situations. Over 60 such centres have already been setup in the country and gradually there will be one such centre in each district, she informed.
Maneka Sanjay Gandhi said that the Ministry has also set up a Grievance Redressal Cell with a dedicated e-mail to receive complaints from women needing help. Another initiative of the ministry is the launch of the e-commerce platform for women entrepreneurs called Mahila-e-Haat. Lakhs of women artisans have already joined this platform which helps to market their products across the country. This initiative is being expanded to establish the National Women Entrepreneurship Council which will cater to women who want to take the entrepreneurial route for economic empowerment, the Minister explained. The WCD Minister said that today’s programme is being organized just before we get into the International Women’s Day when we celebrate our women and pay tribute to them for the myriad ways in which they serve the society. The Ministry of Women and Child Development will be giving the Nari Shakti Awards on 8th of March. In order to spread the message of equality of gender, the Ministry has also started a fabulous campaign, #WeAreEqual on social media, Smt Maneka Gandhi disclosed. The Minister urged everybody to join the unique initiative on Facebook & Twitter. Today’s programme was organized by Doordarshan to celebrate the 100 episodes of its popular program Tejaswini. Tejaswini is a program based on women achievers who had the courage to tread unusual paths and have successfully set new options for thousands of other women to follow. The Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Shri M Venkaiah Naidu and Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore were also present on the occasion.