Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Indian women need total security' that was published in Newsband

Indian women need total security

Just recently, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB). It will focus predominantly on women, apart from being staffed largely by them.

Women, who constitute about half the country’s population, account for 80 per cent lower per capita credit compared to men. Also that there is a gender bias in banking services is clear. It was precisely these factors that led to the creation of women's cooperative banks such as the Shri Mahila Sewa Sahakari Bank Ltd.

The branches of BMB should also be launched in a rural area or in remote corner of banking starved area of the country and not just in Metropolis where the banks have reached saturation. More branches should get opened in Rural and select semi urban areas. If they are started in the Rural areas, where most people hardly hold bank accounts, there might be relatively higher number of enrollments once they are educated about these banks. In urban areas where there is better participation of women in the workforce, the women may not be much interested in such a concept.

This is indeed a bold move by the government ahead of the 2014 general elections, especially at a time when economies of some developed nations are in a state of doldrums. This is a perfect example of a robust economy. BMB, undoubtedly is a boon to the women folk in India. What is important is RBI must take enough attention so that it caters to the needs of working women, women who run their own business and daily wage earners, accordingly.With population growing by leaps and bounds this would be a better alternative to the Indian women. It is now left to the women of India to utilise the most of it.

Any developmental step initially looks like heading towards a thorny path. But again this is a good step taken to focus upon the financial inclusion of women.

The BMB will ensure focused women empowering in rural India, thereby ensuring requisite livelihood opportunities to them. A very good initiative of Indian government. Further BMB would certainly ensure availbilty of credit to the marginalised women in rural areas to enable them to supplement their family incomes to reach to a viable standard of living in rural areas. This will also go a long way in mitigating the rural poverty in particular besides reducing the incidence of migration to urban areas.

 Women should not only be expected to enjoy equality with men in financial sophistication, but also she needs to have safety (in society, at work), employment, education, good health, housing, food, water. She must be allowed to survive without being maimed physically or harmed mentally as a wife, an unmarried adult, a blossoming youth, a carefree developing child, a dependent baby. She must not be killed after birth or selectively murdered before birth. The Government must know that girls and women in India enjoy none of these most basic of human rights. At some places in India, girls and women cannot even attend to unavoidable call of nature - without risking attack, rape or murder. Hence government must take steps to provide full security to women.