#WebWonderWomen

Twitter India and Ministry of Women and Child Development, in partnership with human rights organization Breakthrough, has launched the campaign #WebWonderWomen to celebrate Indian women achievers.
•Under the campaign, people can nominate their favourite Indian woman achievers.

Womaniya on GeM

The initiative seeks to develop women entrepreneurship on the margins of society to achieve gender-inclusive economic growth.

Nearly 80% women-owned establishments are selffinanced and more than 60% of 8 million units are owned and or led by women entrepreneurs from sociallychallenged sections of the society.
 Since women tend to invest up to 90% of their earnings back in their families to provide better nutrition, health care and education to their children, economic empowerment of women is a step in the direction of poverty alleviation.
 The initiative aligns with Government’s initiatives for MSMEs, especially to reserve 3% in government procurement from women entrepreneurs.
 Womaniya on GeM will spur hyper-local economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs and address goals and objectives under United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

Savitri Bai Phule

• She was the social reformer of the 19th century who worked in the field of women education.
• Savitribai Phule was born on 3 January 1831 at Naigaon in Maharashtra’s Satara district.
• She was the eldest daughter of Lakshmi and Khandoji Neveshe Patil, both of whom belonged to the Mali community, now an Other Backward Caste (OBC).
• At the age of 9, she was married to 13-year-old Jyotirao Phule.
• Jyotirao Phule, better known as Jyotiba, was also a social reformer who worked in the field of women education. Jyotirao educated Savitribai at home after their marriage.
• Savitribai Phule died on 10 March 1897, while caring for a patient in the clinic she had opened for the treatment of those affected by the bubonic plague.

• Jyotiba, at the age of 21, and Savitri, 17, opened a school for women in 1848.
• It was the country’s first school for women started by Indians.
• She also took teacher’s training course at an institute run by an American missionary in Ahmednagar and in Pune’s Normal School.
• She then started teaching girls in Pune’s Maharwada.
• By the end of 1851, the Phules were running three schools in Pune with around 150 girl students.
• In 1849, Jyotiba and Savitri Bai left their family home as their acts were considered against the society by their family.
• They stayed with the family of a friend, Usman Sheikh, where Savitribai met Fatima Begum Sheikh.
• Fatima Sheikh along with Savitribai went to the Normal School and they both graduated together. She was the first Muslim woman teacher of India.

• In the 1850s, the Phule couple initiated two educational trusts—the Native Female School, Pune and The Society for Promoting the Education of Mahars, Mangs and Etceteras—which came to have many schools under them.
• She published Kavya Phule in 1854 and Bavan Kashi Subodh Ratnakar in 1892. In her poem, Go, Get Education , she urges the oppressed communities to get an education and break free from the chains of oppression.
• In 1852, Savitribai started the Mahila Seva Mandal to raise awareness about women’s rights. Savitribai called for a women’s gathering where members from all castes were welcome and everybody was expected to sit on the same mattress.
• She simultaneously campaigned against child marriage, while supporting widow remarriage.
• In 1863, they started a home for the prevention of infanticide in their own house, for the safety of pregnant, exploited Brahman widows and to nurture their children.
• 1890, Jyotirao passed away. Defying all social norms, she lit his funeral pyre.
• After Jyotiba’s death in 1890, Savitribai carried forward the work of the organization Satya Shodhak Samaj and also chaired the annual session held at Saswad in 1893.
• She initiated the first Satyashodhak marriage—a marriage without a dowry, Brahmin priests or Brahminical rituals in 1873. Her adopted son, Yashwant, too, had a Satyashodhak intercaste marriage.
• Her achievements were diverse and numerous, but they had a singular effect—posing a brave and pioneering challenge to the caste system and patriarchy.

NariShakti Puraskar2019

Ministry of Women and Child Development has invited applications for NariShakti Puraskar for the year 2019. The National Award is given annually to individuals, groups, institutions in recognition of their exceptional work towards the cause of women empowerment, especially for vulnerable and marginalized women.

Nearly 40 NariShakti Puraskar will be given away on International Women’s Day observed on 8th March 2020.

Nagardhan Excavation

• Place = Nagardhan in Ramtek taluka, near Nagpur
• What was found?- 1,500 year-old sealing was excavated for the 1st time with Prabhavati’ name in Bramhi script.
• So what??-provides concrete evidence on the life, religious affiliations and trade practices of the Vakataka dynasty that ruled parts of Central and South India between the 3rd – 5th centuries.

Queen Prabhavatigupta

• The Vakataka rulers were known for several matrimonial alliances with other dynasties of their times.
• 1 of the key alliances was with Prabhavatigupta of the mighty Gupta dynasty, which was then ruling north India.
• The Guptas, researchers say, were way more powerful than the Vakatakas.
• After marrying Vakataka king Rudrasena II, Prabhavatigupta enjoyed the position of Chief Queen.
• When she took over the Vakataka kingdom, after the sudden demise of Rudrasena II, her stature as a woman Vakataka ruler rose significantly.
• This is evident from the fact that the sealings were introduced and issued during her period as a ruler, that too from the capital city of Nagardhan.
• Scholars say Queen Prabhavatigupta was among a handful of women rulers in India to have reigned over any kingdom during ancient times.
• Also, there had been no evidence so far of any successor female ruler within the Vakataka dynasty, the researchers suggest.

Spread of Vaishnavism

• The Vakataka rulers followed the Shaiva sect of Hinduism while the Guptas were staunch Vaishnavites.
• Excavators say that many religious structures indicating affinity to the Vaishnava sect, and found in Ramtek, were built during the reign of Queen Prabhavatigupta.
• While she was married into a family that belonged to the Shaiva sect, the queen’s powers allowed her to choose a deity of worship, that is, Lord Vishnu.
• The researchers believe that the practice of worshipping Narasimha in Maharashtra emerged from Ramtek, and that Queen Prabhavatigupta had a pivotal role in propagation of Vaishnava practices in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.
• Some of the temples identified as Keval Narasihma, Rudra Narasimha and the one dedicated to Varaha could be traced to Ramtek, and showcase strong affinity to the incarnations of Lord Vishnu.
• None of these religious structures was, however, present here until the Queen took the throne.
• Queen Prabhavatigupta ruled for about 10 years until her son Pravarasena II succeeded.

MAHILA KISAN SASHAKTIKARAN PARIYOJANA (MKSP)

Funding support to the tune of up to 60% (90% for North Eastern States) for such projects by GOI.

A sub component of the Deendayal Antodaya Yojana-NRLM (DAY-NRLM) seeks to improve the present status of women in Agriculture, and to enhance the opportunities available to empower her.

 “Mahila” as “Kisan” and strives to build the capacity of women in the domain of agro-ecologically sustainable practices.

to reach out to the poorest of poor households and expand the portfolio of activities currently handled by the Mahila Kisan.

focus of MKSP is on capacitating smallholders to adopt sustainable climate resilient agro-ecology 


Objective is to strengthen smallholder agriculture through promotion of sustainable agriculture practices such as
Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture (CMSA),
Non Pesticide Management (NPM),
Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF),
Pashu-Sakhi model for doorstep animal care services,
Sustainable regeneration and harvesting of Non-Timber Forest Produce.

Decline in female sex ration in Telangana

The performance of key indicators of Health Management Information System of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare suggests that against 957 girl children born in Telangana in 2018-19 for 1,000 boys, the birth rate of girls in 2019-20 was 950. The national average of girl children was 925