ADVANCEMENT OF A COUNTRY IS INTRICATELY LINKED TO DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN: SPEAKERS
Nirakarpur(25/02/2024): Leading up to International Women's Day 2024, a community awareness initiative took place at Nirakarpur, situated in the Tangi block of Khurda district.
The programme revolved around the IWD-2024 theme "Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress." More than five hundred women belonging to SHGs, community members, and young individuals from Nirakarpur, Lendo, Dia, and Rameswar Gram Panchayats actively participated.
The event was organized by SAHAYOG, a social organization at the state level in Bhubaneswar, in partnership with Vishwa Yuvak Kendra from New Delhi. Youth social activist Pravat Swain extended a warm welcome to all the distinguished guests, panchayati raj members from various village panchayats, women's self-help group members, teachers, women, and youth in Delhi.
Shedding light on the programme's objectives and International Women’s Day 2024, Bijayalaxmi Rautaray, Secretary of SAHAYOG, shared insights about Vishwa Yuvak Kendra in New Delhi and its partner organizations across India.
They also discussed launching a campaign with various initiatives based on this year's theme, 'Investing More for Women: Accelerating Progress'. SAHAYOG is a registered society actively involved in areas such as Maternal and Child Health, Tuberculosis, Education, Child Rights, and Gender Equality.
Operating as a partner organization of Vishwa Yuvak Kendra in Odisha, SAHAYOG has initiated a week-long event starting today.
Despite the government's progressive efforts, as per the Gender Gap Report 2023, we are ranked 127, a slight improvement from 2022.
However, it raises the question of why we are lagging.
It is crucial for our society to prioritize gender equality for any meaningful progress to take place.
Today, we have a gathering of influential figures including the elected woman representative, the president of Block Mission Shakti, police officers, teachers, and social activists.
Together, we will explore ways to map out plans and make commitments towards achieving gender equality.
The distinguished guests will engage in discussions on future actions and commitments to foster a shift in attitudes.
It is crucial to acknowledge that apart from financial investments, other forms of support are also necessary. Haras Pradhan, President of the Block Mission Shakti Federation, mentioned that before Mission Shakti, people neither respected nor had faith in SHG groups.
However, the situation has significantly improved now.
Risna Mandhata, Chairperson of Tangi Block, highlighted that women participating in the program, including herself, symbolize women's empowerment.
The key focus is to invest in a girl for her current and future well-being. Aniya Chhotray, Head Master, mentioned their efforts to eliminate gender bias through new seating arrangements and assigning roles and responsibilities to primary class students irrespective of their gender.
Police Sub-Inspector Dipalisa Nayak emphasized the importance of developing a friendly rapport with teenagers for mothers.
Encouraging mothers to allocate time, respect their choices, and offer forgiveness can facilitate the reintegration of teenagers into the mainstream following any mistakes they may have made. Vice Chairman Tangi Block Durga Prasad Nathsharma, Ramesh Biswal from Rameshwar Panchayat Samithi, social activist Mrytyunjay Pradhan, former Sarpanch Lendu Laxmidhar Acharya, ex-Sarpanch Nirakarpur Harishikesh Rautray, Dia Panchayat Sarpanch Prashant Behera, and Rameswar Sarpanch Representative Ranjit Jagdev also expressed their opinions, among others. The campaign ended with vows to stop sex selective abortion, promote women education & career and stopping child marriage.
It also opined that blaming girl or woman is the greatest barrier in achieving gender equality. The programe closed with vote of thanks of social worker Sukanta Behera to all and especially local youth who helped immensely to make the programme a great success.
