Women Empowerment Must be a Priority for Industries & Entrepreneurs: Venkaiah Naidu

Vice President of India Mr. M. Venkaiah Naidu urged the Indian industry to participate in efforts for women empowerment and inclusive growth.

"I am aware that through their CSR initiatives, corporates are already reaching out to communities. The CSR outreach also provides an opportunity to the industry to partner with women, especially those who are leading the change at the grass-root level. These women who came here today are working with marginalised groups," said Venkaiah Naidu,

Addressing the gathering after giving away Women Exemplar Awards, he added that women exemplars who have fought against all odds and flourished. They flourished not for their own benefit, but showed the way to thousands of others.

He said that Indian industry has a major role to promote inclusive growth from the grass root level and we need visionary business leaders to provide resources, ideas, energy and the drive in this regard.

"Friends, India is transforming at a fast pace. Our economy is poised to grow at 7.3 per cent of the GDP in 2018-19 and projected to become the third largest economy in the next 10-15 years. While this is good news, what is important is to ensure equitable distribution of the fruits of economic prosperity. In other words, the poor and weaker sections should not be left behind in the growth narrative of India," he said.

"It is the duty of those who are better off to think of the disadvantaged sections and help in their uplift. Empowerment of women, who constitute almost half of India’s population, is very crucial for the country to make progress and achieve economic prosperity," he added.