Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has said that he has been striving along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan, as partners of the NDA, for the advancement of women.
Focus was on strengthening the MEPMA and DWCRA groups, keeping in view their significant contribution to the State’s economic growth, Mr. Naidu said while participating in the International Women’s Day (IWD) celebrations, near the State Secretariat, in Guntur district on Sunday.
Mr. Naidu said the theme for this year’s IWD was ‘Accelerate Action: Rights, Justice, and Action’, and it reflected the State and the Central governments’ commitment to improving the lot of women.
He noted that the State government had three women Ministers and they were going trailblazing work in their respective areas.
The fact that Droupadi Murmu, a tribal woman, had been made President showed that the BJP-led NDA government would not merely speak for the sake of rhetoric but keep its promises related to the marginalised sections.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was a shining example of what women were capable of doing, and the recent elevation of Lisa Gill, a Judge of the Punjab & Haryana High Court (HC), as Chief Justice of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh augured well for the State, the Chief Minister observed.
Mr. Naidu said 33% reservation for women would become a reality sooner than later, giving a great opportunity for women to become MLAs. Recalling that he had initiated the formation of DWCRA and MEPMA groups decades ago, he said they had been making significant contribution to the State’s economic growth.
The coalition government had been implementing several schemes for the welfare of women and the same were yielding the desired results, he said. Further, Mr. Naidu said the TDP-JSP-BJP alliance had promised to turn one lakh women into entrepreneurs. “So far, 1,12,686 women have established Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), of which 33,899 are in urban areas,” he said.
To give a boost to the activities of the DWCRA and MEPMA groups, the government introduced a plan under which all their products were being sold under the brand name ‘Swayam’.
These products would become a global brand, provided quality standards were strictly adhered to, he said, while promising to help in marketing them through various platforms.
The Chief Minister called upon women to become digitally literate and adopt modern technologies in their activities, particularly in businesses.
On the occasion of IWD, Mr. Naidu gave away a cheque for ₹10,100 crore to the Self-Help Groups (SHGs) towards loans under SERP, MEPMA, Stree Nidhi, PMEGP, TRICOR, PM AJAY and PM Vishwakarma schemes.
Senior officials of the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) and Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (MEPMA) signed MoUs with various organisations, including the National Institute of Ocean Technology, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, XLRI, Indian School of Business (ISB), and IIM-Visakhapatnam for support to the SHGs in different fields.
Felicitated
The Chief Minister also felicitated five women who excelled as entrepreneurs. They were Gowri Sujatha from Anakapalli district (jaggery sweet making), Palakurthi Annamma from Prakasam (duck farming), K. Vidya Sri from NTR district (Anganwadi), Sk. Gousiya Begum from Nellore (wooden toys and utensils), and Nelakurthi Meena from Tirupati district (home-made instant food).
Published – March 08, 2026 07:26 pm IST
