Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 15: Former Minister and MLA, Priya Sethi today said that it is only Modi Government which showed most concern for welfare of women and down trodden people of the society.
She was addressing a gathering while distributing free gas connections to women beneficiaries hailing from BPL and SC/ST families here at Bagh-e-Bahu, today. She said that Congress always exploited people on the name of religion, region, caste and practically it never showed any concern for their welfare.
Sethi further said that Women empowerment plays a key role in achieving economic growth and social development and without it the agenda of sustainable development cannot be fulfilled. The Modi Government has launched various welfare schemes aiming towards empowering women, she added.
“Earlier, women folk was overlooked but now there is growing emphasis on incorporating women’s concerns, their voices are being heard and they are recognised as nation builders and torch bearers of development,” the former Minister affirmed.
Priya Sethi also informed the gathering regarding the welfare schemes launched by the Modi Government and asked them to avail their benefits.
“Modi Government has launched Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao , Ladli Beti and many other schemes for the welfare of fair sex”, she said. Swachh Vidyalaya Programme was launched with an objective to provide separate toilets for girls and boys in all government schools, Sethi added.
She while underlining the importance of using clean fuel, said that there is a sufficient population that is still relying on firewood, coal, dung – cakes etc. as primary source of cooking and the smoke from burning such fuels causes alarming household pollution and adversely affects the health of women and children causing several respiratory diseases.
Schemes from the Modi Government for women like Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) aims to safeguard the health of women and children by providing them with a clean cooking fuel – LPG, so that they don’t have to compromise their health in smoky kitchens or wander in unsafe areas collecting firewood, she asserted.
She further called for spreading mass awareness among women folk regarding benefits of using clean cooking fuel to achieve the enhanced target of enrolling more than 8 crore LPG beneficiaries.
BJP Mahila Morcha (MM) district president Jammu, Rekha Mahajan, its district general secretaries, Monika Khosla ,Sonia and large number of women were present on the occasion.