Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government has spent a whopping ₹1.18 lakh crore on 4.69 crore women beneficiaries during the party’s 34-moth tenure at office.
“Andhra Pradesh is ahead of other States in the country in implementing several revolutionary schemes and programmes that are aimed at empowering women,” the Chief Minister said during the International Women's Day celebrations organised by the Department of Women Development and Child Welfare at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation Stadium in Vijayawada on Tuesday.
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said a sum of ₹83,509 crore had been disbursed to women beneficiaries under various direct benefit transfer (DBT) schemes and ₹34,841 crore had been spent on measures undertaken under non-direct benefit transfer (non-DBT) schemes.
Quoting Aya Rand, he said, "Because I am a woman, the question is not who would allow me to grow. It's who would stop me."
Addressing the gathering of women during the celebrations, a majority of them people’s representatives, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said,” Each of you is an empowered woman who represents empowerment. Maybe never in the history, such a meeting with a huge gathering of women people’s representatives would happen,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that the State government had reserved more than 50% of the seats and posts in all elections and nominated posts for women after passing an Act in the Assembly. “Ours is the only government in the history of India to do this,” he said.
Political representation
"Out of 1,154 directors nominated, 586 are women. Of the 202 market yard committee chairpersons, 102 are women. Also, 688 of 1,356 politically nominated persons, seven of 13 Zilla Parishad chairpersons, 15 of 26 vice-chairpersons, 18 of 36 Mayors and Deputy Mayors, 361 of 671 corporation ward members, 45 of 73 municipality chairpersons, 1,061 of the 2,124 municipality ward members are women. Also, 57% of the sarpanches, 54% of the MPTC members, 53% of the Mandal presidents and 53% of ZPTC members are women in our State. For the first time, a woman is nominated as the Vice-Chairperson of the Legislative Council. Our Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister are women from Dalit communities. a first ion the State. We have appointed first woman Chief Secretary and first woman State Election Officer," Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy listed out .
In addition, 53% of the ward and village volunteers and 51% of the officers in ward and village secretariats are women, he added.
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy also listed out schemes such as Amma Vodi, YSR Asara, Jagananna Thodu, Sampoorna Poshana, house sites registration, women and asked the gathering to respond if they could find them in any other State of the country. “Andhra Pradesh has no competition in the country when it comes to implementing women-centric schemes,” he said.
Disha app
Referring to the women’s safety, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said that the Disha app had been downloaded by 1.13 crore users in the State and 900 women have been extended the required help in emergencies so far.
“The average time taken to file a chargesheet in cases pertaining to crimes against women has come down to 61 days from 169 days in 2017, after the implementation of the Disha rules. About 1,132 chargesheets were filed within seven days of registration of FIRs, he said.
More than 2 lakh sexual offenders have been geo-tagged and they are being tracked, while 2,135 history-sheets and 1,531 cyberbullying-sheets have been opened so far. “Girl or boy, both should be treated equally in a family. Patriarchy should be opposed. I proudly say that I have two daughters,” the Chief Minister said.
