PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday underscored the importance of women's empowerment for real progress and highlighted several schemes for the benefit of the fairer sex in Goa in his address to the inaugural function of the National Women's Parliament at the Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Stadium.
Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani who was scheduled to inaugurate the two-day conclave could not make it, Sawant disclosed.
Aimed at providing a platform to encourage and enable the social, political and economic empowerment of women in all stratas of the society, the conclave is part of the collaborative effort of the Goa government and the Goa legislative assembly together with the MIT School of Government of India to commemorate the 60th anniversary celebrations of Goa's liberation.
Over 2,500 participants have registered for the conclave where Sawant listed the Griha Adhaar Scheme and several other women-oriented welfare schemes which he said were started when former chief minister the late Manohar Parrikar took charge of the State government.
As of date, around 1.3 lakh women were getting benefits of the Griha Adhaar scheme and 1.35 lakh women are beneficiaries of the Dayanand Social Security Scheme (DSSS), Sawant told the large audience.
Union Minister of State Shripad Naik, Goa Speaker Rajesh Patnekar, MLAs Alinha Saldanha and Churchill Alemao and former minister Nirmala Sawant participated in the inaugural ceremony.
Two other conclaves -- Panchayat Parliament and Youth Parliament -- are also being organised as part of the Goa @60 celebrations themed as 'Celebration of Democracy' until November 12.
