We recently witnessed a spirited PM Modi praising a young girl dressed as Bharat Mata during an election rally in Telangana. The PM congratulated the little champion of Bharat for inspiring the youth with the colour and character of her portrayal.
In another instance, PM wrote back to Akanksha who was holding up a sketch of the PM during his rally in Kanker, Chhattisgarh. While thanking her for the loving expression, the PM wrote in a letter, “India’s daughters are the bright future of our country. Our aim has been to create a safe and healthy nation, equipped with all kinds of facilities for our daughters. The next 25 years will be key for young friends like you and the country. In these years, our younger generation, daughters like you in particular, will give a new direction to the future of the country while fulfilling your dreams.”
These words vocalise the significance that women hold for Prime Minister Narendra Modi when it comes to the future of this country. The last nine years of Modi government have reiterated its commitment to the cause of women, their dignity and development with a bouquet of successful initiatives. Initiatives that have become household names today, and have not only addressed primal issues plaguing women but have taken their progress beyond traditional parameters.
Taking a lifecycle approach, PM Modi has ensured that his government assists women through various stages of their lives, starting from their birth, education, marriage to employment and old age. Here, understanding the importance of healthy children for a healthy nation, as they make the next generation, Government of India has laid great emphasis on the wellbeing of mothers and their newborns.
PM POSHAN, for example, is an umbrella scheme that seeks to provide nutritional security to children, adolescent girls, pregnant women, and lactating mothers. Apart from hot cooked meals and take-home rations via anganwadis, the scheme further works to enhance nutritional content with its focus on diet diversity, food fortification, and use of millets.
The government encourages consumption of green leafy vegetables, lentils, vitamin C rich fruits, iron, folic acid, and Vitamin B-12, among others through over 4 lakh Poshan Vatikas and 60 crore plus Jan Andolan activities. This assumes significance since issues like malnutrition and anemia have plagued the potential of little children for years now. Even more so for girls as they not only share the burden of domestic chores but also remain at the receiving end of regressive practices like early marriage often resulting into early pregnancy.
To ensure that pregnant women visit hospitals regularly and cultivate a positive attitude towards their health, PM Matritva Suraksha Abhiyan provides free of cost, quality assured antenatal care to them on the 9th of every month. All pregnant women are provided with a range of services, ranging from ultrasound, drugs, lab tests to antenatal check-up under this unique initiative. Over 3.94 crore women have been examined under the Abhiyan, and the number of facilities providing PMSMA services have increased to 19,215.
As crores of women have started visiting hospitals regularly, their outlook towards institutional deliveries has also changed tremendously. Janani Suraksha Yojana has been key in promoting this shift. The scheme incentivises delivery and post-delivery care by linking them to cash assistance. Promoting institutional deliveries among poor pregnant women, the Yojana is a powerful intervention to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality. Consequently, institutional deliveries in India have increased to 89% (2019-20) from 79% (2015-16), and around 94% births in urban areas and 87% births in rural areas are institutional deliveries. Further, these deliveries have been secured by programs like Labour Room Quality Improvement Initiative (LaQshya), which has greatly improved quality of care in labour rooms and maternity operation theatres.
As women become mothers, it is important to ensure that they don’t move out of the labour force given the greater demands on their time and energy after delivery. PM Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), a peerless initiative, bridges the gap in that regard. A transformative measure, the Yojana provides a cash benefit of Rs. 6000 to help women take care of their enhanced nutritional needs and partially compensates them for any wage loss. Till date, over 3.11 crore beneficiaries have been paid over Rs. 14,000 crore as maternity benefit under PMMVY. Other initiatives aimed at facilitating working women are the amendment in the Maternity Benefit Act, 2017, increasing paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks, and the provision of mandatory creche facility in organisations with 50 or more employees under the Code on Social Security, 2020. These efforts also help improve sex ratio at birth by discouraging female foeticide.
Going further, Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan (SUMAN) scheme provides free of cost high quality medical, surgical and emergency services through a SUMAN service package. Backed by an effective grievance redressal mechanism, SUMAN guarantees zero tolerance for denial of services to any women or newborn in a public health facility.
The mother and her child are also duly vaccinated under Mission Indradhanush which has vaccinated a total of 5.06 crore children along with 1.25 crore pregnant women since 2014.
Owing to these formidable efforts by the Modi government, we have achieved a significant decline in Maternal Mortality Rate, from 130/lakh live births in 2014-16 to 97/lakh live births in 2018-20.
Prime Minister Modi has shown visionary leadership in recrafting the story of Indian women. Nari Shakti is not mere symbolism—it is a story of strength and sustenance. Today, the Modi government takes pride in ensuring that mothers and their babies receive a positive birth experience, one that is decorated with dignity. This experience is further enriched with multi-dimensional initiatives, including PM Ujjwala, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, PM Mudra Yojana, Jal Jeevan Mission, and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, that have truly transformed the lives that women live today.
As the PM penned an emotional blog when his late mother entered her hundredth year, he said, “My mother is as simple as she is extraordinary. Just like all mothers.” Needless to say, mothers have been at the heart of PM Modi’s Nari Shakti campaign. And his government has made relentless efforts to help them create a future that is both promising and prosperous.
