Ms. Sitharaman, however, admitted that women were not provided with adequate facilities.
Bangalore:
If patriarchy prevented women in India from getting what they wanted, how did Indira Gandhi become the prime minister, asked Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
He met students of CMS Business School here on Saturday and discussed various measures taken by the Center to support innovation as well as government schemes available for youth, including 1 crore internships for ‘unemployed youth’ in the age group of 21 years. Until the 24th.
Responding to a question about women’s empowerment, Ms. Sitharaman asserted that patriarchy was a concept invented by the Left.
“Don’t settle for fancy jargon. If you stand up for yourself and speak logically, the patriarchy can’t stop you from achieving your dreams,” she advised the women in the audience.
However, she admitted that women do not have enough facilities and need more facilitation.
Responding to a question about the potential of innovators in India, the Finance Minister said that the Narendra Modi government is creating a conducive environment for innovators.
“We don’t just support innovation by bringing in policies,” she said, adding that the Indian government is doing its best to ensure that such innovations also find a market.
As an example, she cited the support mechanisms available for MSMEs. According to him, they are given priority in government procurement.
Ms Sitharaman said 40 per cent of all government procurement is coming from MSMEs. “That’s why in India today we have over 2 lakh startups and over 130 unicorns. The opportunity is huge but not fully tapped,” she said.
Digital banking is undergoing a transformation in India, he added.
According to him, opportunities were created for common people through Jan Dhan Yojana.
“India’s approach to expanding digital networks was government-funded, while many other countries went through private players, resulting in a nominal fee. Because of this, even micro-level users access digital banking without paying.” Ms Sitharaman said, adding that it will only increase in the future.
“Therefore, the technology must be constantly updated so that we do not become redundant.” She also explained the concept of ‘Fund of Funds’ proposed by the Small Enterprise Development Bank of India, which has been enabled by the central government by investing Rs 10,000 crore to help small businesses and innovative ideas that need support.
“Private equity funds are also supporting it because we have given them concessions,” he added.
For the recent government scheme to provide one crore internships to the unemployed, Ms. Sitharaman asked the students present to help bring the target audience to the platform so that more youth can become skilled.
(Other than the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)