Chief Minister Conrad Sangma today said that the State government has conceptualised programmes to empower women through different economic activities and health programmes.
He was addressing the national seminar on ‘Representation of Women of North East India in Multi-Disciplinary Discourse’ at Don Bosco College, Tura.
Sangma said that through the self-help group movement, the Meghalaya government is ensuring that the women are made financially independent.
He told the gathering of a situation, where young women were at high risk due to child birth without spacing of three years and some young women even giving birth to more than five children by the age of 23 years.
“So we had to come up with a solution which is long lasting that ensures the health and well-being of a mother. The Safe Motherhood Programme addresses the concern of the women. We have also introduced intervention that empowers women financially through income generating activities initiated through self-help groups,” Sangma added, while stating that economic empowerment of women is of paramount concern of the government.
He further informed that Meghalaya is one of the few states in the country, where 95 percent of the women from rural areas are part of the self help group movement. He said that there are over four lakh women under the SHG movement in the State, which was around 35,000 prior to 2018.
Sangma further said that the government is working with a positive mindset to provide different opportunities to enable economic empowerment of women. He said that there are different problems confronting women but the government is working with an approach to provide effective solutions to those problems.
“Having a positive mindset does not mean that we overlook the problem. However, we come up with a perspective to address the concern and improve things. It is a challenge but we have to come up with an approach to ensure real change,” he stressed.
Education Minister Rakkam A. Sangma, spoke at length on the contribution of women in different fields.
He also urged the women to continue to overcome challenges and stand tall in making their contribution to society. He also said that women have better convincing power and their active participation is very important in different sectors.
The seminar was attended by scholars from different parts of the country, and papers were presented. The keynote address was delivered by Prof. Sukalpa Bhattacharjee of NEHU Shillong campus.
