For ages women in the State have remained suppressed and oppressed. One half of our society consists of womenfolk. How can a society develop into a prosperous one if half of its component remains deprived and disempowered? Long disempowerment of women has adversely affected their personality and they have begun to feel that they are nothing more than drawers of water and hewers of wood. No economic activity becomes productive as long as women remain outside the pale of political, social and economic empowerment. The Chief Minister is very right in saying that development will be lopsided without the welfare of women.
Fully conscious of the importance of dimensional welfare of the women of the State and also owning that females have not been given their due over the years of independence, the State Government, under the leadership of Omar Abdullah, took the initiative of reserving Panchayat seats for women. This had very good effect in totality. To pursue the endeavour of empowering women and caring for their welfare, the prestigious scheme of Umeed was introduced only a few months ago. This is a comprehensive scheme actually initiated by the Central Government and the State Government took the time by forelock and in the first instance brought four blocks in the State, two in Kashmir and two in Jammu region under the purview of the Umeed scheme. The Chief Minister feels happy that the results obtained within a short period of few months are satisfying and also encouraging. It is noteworthy that the success of the scheme in which the women are helped to achieve economic independence has prompted the Chief Minister to announce, in a stock taking meeting, that all the 143 blocks of the State including those of Ladakh will be brought under the purview of Umeed scheme. He hopes that while 23040 families have already been brought under the scheme, the number is likely to shoot up to 9 lakh families being brought under the scheme. Once that is achieved, it will be a real socio-economic transformation of the society in Jammu and Kashmir. This project is likely to be completed in next five years.
Generally speaking, the experiment of Self Help Groups would be an effective way of finding solutions to the difficulties confronting women. The Government has provided the wherewithal and it would be highly appreciated if the women come forward with serious intention of taking full benefit from the facilities provided. The women should raise questions about their difficulties, economic, social, political etc. and seek answers from the Government. The Chief Minister did the right thing of educating the large gathering of women about the real purpose and utility of the Public Services Guarantee Act. The Omar Abdullah Government has already passed this Act and the people in general and women in particular should take benefit out of it in finding redress to their grievances. The Act ensures that public services will be provided to all the citizens of the State and no discrimination on account of gender or other things will be tolerated. The Umeed Scheme was initially meant for only limited blocks, but now thanks to the Union Government and particularly the Prime Minister who agreed to bring all the blocks of the State under this scheme within next five years. The State Government, closely following the guidelines provided by the centre for implementation of Umeed Scheme, has formed as many as 923 groups in the two resource blocks of Jammu division and 891 groups have opened their bank accounts. Kashmir division has formed 483 groups and all of these have opened their account in the local banks. This augurs well for the success of the scheme in future and based on this statistics, the State Government feels encouraged to extend the scheme to all the 143 blocks.
An overall estimate shows that under the scheme one half of the total population of the State will benefit from the provisions of the scheme. The more significant part of the Umeed scheme is that it instils womenfolk with confidence that they have a positive role to play in bringing economic prosperity and equality to the people in the entire state. We can call it a peaceful but powerful social revolution without any side effects or backlashes. It is for the women to come forward and take the benefit. Since education is fast spreading among the women of the state, we are hopeful that schemes like Umeed will go a long way in changing the entire life of our womenfolk and also bring about a drastic change in their mindset. It is the woman who can bring about peaceful revolution because they comprise one half of the total population and besides that they have enormous influence in the family to mould the thinking of the members of the family for positive response to the schemes floated by the Government. The initiatives taken by the Omar Abdullah Government have to be welcomed and fully pursued. We are hopeful that with Umeed and other welfare schemes on the anvil our society will change and move along the path of prosperity.
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