Many students at Delhi University may soon have their startup projects being supported by the central government with union minister for women and child development (WCD) Smriti Irani offering them assistance for it at the ‘Viksit Bharat Ambassadors- Nari Shakti’ conclave organised by the institution on Thursday ahead of International Women’s Day.
The minister was in conversation with around 5,000 female students from across colleges participating in the event held at the DU Sports Complex indoor stadium to highlight the role played by young women in Viksit Bharat.
Archisha Dainwal, a master’s student from DU’s social work department, has received an offer from the union minister to have her startup — Uttarakhand Culture and Economy — supported by the government.
Irani asked Dainwal to meet the official who is leading the Viksit Bharat Ambassadors programme as well as the team of MyGov app on how to brand and take her startup forward.
This is not all. Irani assured the student of having her speak to Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to tell him “exactly” what she needs for the project and the work she is doing in his state.
The minister also asked Dainwal to meet her for more discussions on her startup after the event was over. “So, you will be meeting me after this event is over. I will have you meet our Viksit Bharat Ambassador campaign head and the MyGov team on how to build your startup,” Irani told the student, whom she had asked to join her on the stage. “This is exactly what Viksit Bharat agenda means with people coming together with their ideas to inform policymakers better.”
Dainwal has started a project to connect small homestays in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand to potential tourists so that villages in the area get a means for stable or seasonal employment.
“I also organise trips for this. At the moment we are a small team of three to four people, who feel for this cause. There are very few women in organising travel and tours, it’s mostly dominated by men. But, we need support in terms of outreach and funds, I hope now that the minister has assured us of help, it can take shape to go forward,” she said.
Viksit Bharat is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government’s action plan to convert India into a developed nation by 2047, which will be exactly 100 years since India became an independent country in 1947.
Irani made another offer to a student, a Viksit Bharat Ambassador from Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, to have her project — Pravah — a group of students who help underprivileged children and those with mental health issues reach out to the right authorities — “co-brand” with the ministry’s initiative SAMVAD.
“So my offer to you is that you co-brand your effort and work with SAMVAD, which trains counsellors for helping out such children, and NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences) so you have a national institute for your college campus,” she told the student while asking Anil Malik, secretary, WCD ministry, to meet her to “finalise” her collaboration.
SAMVAD (Support, Advocacy & Mental health interventions for children in Vulnerable circumstances And Distress) is a national initiative and integrated resource for child protection and psychosocial care being supported by the WCD ministry.
The minister also promised the DU administration to send her the plans for building women’s hostels in the university and that these would be approved by her ministry by “tomorrow”.
DU has had a long-pending demand for building more women’s hostels, which had not been able to come up because of a paucity of funds.
“Whatever projects are pending for building women’s hostels, please send them over to my office and I will have them approved by tomorrow itself,” Irani announced.
While addressing the participants, she spoke of the achievements of the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in empowering women by launching projects such as building toilets in rural areas and towns where women had to go long distances just to relieve themselves as well as in government schools across states.
“There was a high dropout rate of female students who would quit school after class 8 because of not having functional toilets during their menstrual cycle. The PM has changed this by setting an agenda of building toilets, which no other leader has done before,” said Irani.
The minister spoke of the central government’s achievements ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, which are likely to be held in April-May this year.