Annpurna Devi
Walk into any village, hamlet or far-flung corner of the country today and look closely at the kitchen. The smoke is gone. Where a chulha once stung the eyes of a young bride, an Ujjwala flame now burns clean and blue. The bucket that her mother-in-law carried from a distant handpump has been replaced by a Har Ghar Jal tap. The open field behind the house is no longer her only option; a Swachh Bharat toilet stands in the courtyard. The pucca roof above her is registered in her own name. In her purse sits a Jan Dhan passbook, in her phone a UPI app, and on her wrist, sometimes, the watch of a Lakhpati Didi who now earns more than her husband.
This is not an imaginary picture printed on a poster. It is a truth of women’s empowerment over twelve years of the Modi government — one that crores of Indian women are living every single day. This is the story of an era in which, guided by the vision of Women-Led Development, the Indian woman is becoming the architect of a Viksit Bharat.
Contrast this with the decade that preceded 2014. In 2007-09, India’s Maternal Mortality Ratio stood at 212 deaths per lakh live births. The nation’s anguish over a tragedy like Nirbhaya spilled onto the streets, yet the system betrayed a deficit of policy will and sensitivity. The Women’s Reservation Bill, first introduced in 1996, was allowed to lapse four times. No decisive action was taken on Triple Talaq for decades. The chulha kept burning. The handpump kept squeaking. And the woman kept waiting.
Begin with the most sacred indicator: the right of an Indian woman to survive childbirth. India’s Maternal Mortality Ratio has fallen sharply, from 212 to 88. According to the UN-MMEIG, while the global decline in maternal mortality was a mere 48 per cent, India recorded a historic fall of 86 per cent. Institutional deliveries have risen from 38.7 per cent to 90.6 per cent. Nearly nine in ten Indian women now deliver in a hospital, attended by trained hands. The Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana has transferred over ₹20,000 crore directly into the bank accounts of more than four crore mothers. A first pregnancy in India today is no longer a coin toss with mortality.
More than 12 crore household toilets built across the country have given women dignity. Over 10.5 crore Ujjwala connections have freed them from smoke. Today, tap water has reached more than 16 crore homes — against a mere 17 per cent of households in 2014. Of the nearly 4 crore homes built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, 73 per cent stand in the names of women. For the first time in the history of independent India, the names of our mothers and sisters are recorded with pride in government records.
From dignity came ownership, and ownership gave the confidence to decide. This widening of economic participation ran from the bank account to entrepreneurship. Of nearly 56 crore Jan Dhan accounts, 56 per cent are in the names of women. The World Bank acknowledges that India has brought the gender gap in account ownership to zero within a decade — a feat without precedent in global financial inclusion. Of more than 52 crore collateral-free Mudra loans, 68 per cent have gone to women. Stand-Up India has extended over ₹43,000 crore to women entrepreneurs, and 91 lakh Self Help Groups under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) have mobilised ₹12 lakh crore in capital. Ahead of schedule, 3 crore sisters have already become Lakhpati Didis.
This change is just as clear in education and employment. The Female Labour Force Participation Rate has risen from 23.3 per cent in 2017-18 to 41.7 per cent in 2023-24, while in rural areas it has reached 47.6 per cent. Under the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, over ₹3.33 lakh crore now stands deposited across 4.53 crore accounts. In higher education, our Gender Parity Index has crossed one, and with daughters making up 43 per cent of enrolment in STEM education, India stands among the first in the world.
This change shows not only in lived experience but in the record itself — the SRS, NFHS, PLFS, the World Bank and the UN all point the same way: for the Indian woman, access has widened and self-reliance has arrived.
This same economic and social awakening is now visible in political and democratic participation. In the 2019 general elections, for the first time, women voted in a higher proportion than men. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, 31.2 crore women exercised their franchise — the largest by women anywhere in the world. It was in this spirit that the long-pending Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was passed in Parliament with historic unanimity. Today, more than 14.5 lakh elected women representatives lead our Panchayats. Women fly Rafales. Women command warships. Women cadets pass out of the National Defence Academy.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 placed an effective check on Triple Talaq, bringing such cases down by 82 per cent. At 973 One Stop Centres nationwide, women in distress now receive medical care, legal aid and counselling under one roof. The Women Helpline 181 has assisted over one crore women. Mission Shakti, Mission Vatsalya and Saksham Anganwadi form the spine of a Naari-led Bharat.
There are, of course, still challenges, and the government is working on them with full commitment. The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam itself awaits the coming delimitation.
For the first time in the history of our Republic, the Indian woman is — at the table of policymaking — no longer merely a beneficiary but its active co-creator. She is no longer a spectator to the work of nation-building. Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji, she is its participant, its co-builder, and its very author.
(The author is Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Government of India.)
