RAMNAGAR: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh and BJP Candidate for Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency said here today that Prime Minister Modi gave women ‘ease of living’ with dignity. The evidence of this, he said, is seen in a series of women centric reforms and schemes rolled out by Prime Minister Modi in the last 10 years with an extreme degree of sensitivity which was missing during the earlier regimes for almost six decades after independence, he said. Addressing a series of election meetings comprising mostly Women Self Help Groups and a large number of women PRIs, Dr. Jitendra Singh recalled that Modi made history when as Prime Minister in his very first Independence Day address from the Red Fort he gave a call for construction of toilets for women. No one had realised the seriousness of this but in the very first year nearly 4 lakh toilets for women had been constructed and then it turned into a mass campaign to bring up a toilet in every household. This single decision , he said, not only brought comfort and healthy well-being to the life of women folk but also gave them respect by liberating them from the compulsion of going for open defecation, he said. That is why in some places women toilets were named as Izzat Ghars, he added. Similarly, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, through the Ujjawala scheme over 10 crore household women were liberated from the unhealthy plight of cooking through smoky kitchens and risking the health of their lungs because now they have the facility of using gas cylinders as an easy and healthy cooking option. All these schemes, said Dr. Jitendra Singh, have not only brought comfort in the lives of the women of this country but have also given them self-confidence and reduced their dependence on their male counterparts. For example, he said, under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana the “Pukka Makaan” is now constructed in the name of the female spouse or the housewife. On the other hand, under Mudra scheme loans for livelihood without any guarantee are provided and out of these also so far over 60% have been availed by females. Special schemes to promote Science & Technology among young women have been introduced, said Dr. Jitendra Singh, and these include exclusive scholarships and exclusive programmes dedicated to develop technology skills in a woman at every stage of her life whether she is an adolescent or a youth or a young housewife or a middle aged lady. Dr. Jitendra Singh said, the enthusiasm and self-confidence that he witnesses among the women even in the remotest villages of his constituency is a testimony of the success of the Modi reforms. In the end, Dr Jitendra Singh said, just as “Modi ki Guarantee” is in itself a guarantee, he is carrying home the guarantee of thousands of beneficiary women and sisters that they will ensure a mandate of 400 plus seats for Prime Minister Modi by not only casting their own vote but also ensuring the vote of their men folks. For the Udhampur constituency, he said, the call should be for a victory margin of more than 4 lakh votes to beat the previous record of nearly 3.60 lakh.
