The Economic Survey 2023-2024 highlighted economic empowerment of women notes that increased accesses to education and skill development, as well as other initiatives for women’s empowerment have elevated the participation of women in the nation’s development and progress. The Economic Survey 2023-2024 was tabled in the Parliament by Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman today.

With rural India driving the trend, the Economic Survey observes that the female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) rose to 37 per cent in 2022-2023 from 23.3 per cent in 2017-2018. The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) has facilitated the opening of 52.3 crore bank accounts, of which 55.6 per cent of account holders are women, as of May 2024.

The Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- NRLM, the Self-Help Groups (SHGs) programme covering more than 89 million women under 8.3 million SHGs, has been empirically associated with women empowerment, self-esteem enhancement, personality development, reduced social evils, and medium impacts in terms of better education, higher participation in village institutions and better access to Government schemes, the Survey highlights.

Acknowledging the encouraging wave of women entrepreneurship fueled by Start-up and Stand-up India, the Survey points out that around 68 per cent of the loans have been sanctioned to women entrepreneurs under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), and 77.7 per cent of the beneficiaries under Stand-Up India are women, as of May 2024.  Realising the vision of Digital India, as of July 2023, more than 53 per cent of the Prime Minister’s Rural Digital Literacy Campaign (PMGDISHA) beneficiaries are women.

The Economic Survey brings out the significance of asset ownership among women acknowledges the requirement of female ownership of houses constructed under PM AWAS Yojana as a nudge towards gender equity.

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NB/MV/RK