<span style="color: #222222;">Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the country is moving ahead with the vision of women led development. He said, with the continuous focus on women empowerment, the country has moved from the approach of women development to women-led development in the past nine years.<br />''<br />''While virtually addressing the post-budget webinar on Economic Empowerment of Women today, Mr. Modi said, Nari Shakti is playing a pivotal role in increasing the speed and scale of the country's progress. He said, women's participation is increasing in every field and now they are leading in several sectors.<br />''<br />''Talking about the steps taken by the government in this years' budget for women, the Prime Minister said, this years' budget will further boost the efforts taken in the direction of women-led development.<br />''<br />''He said, 80 thousand crore rupees have been allocated for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in this year's budget. He said, so far three crore houses have been built under the scheme and most of the houses are in the name of women.<br />''<br />''He said, PM Awas Yojana has given women a new voice in economic decisions of the household. He mentioned that women will get 7.5 percent interest rate under the Mahila Samman Saving Certificate Scheme.<br />''<br />''Stressing on the need for skill development of women, the Prime Minister said, Vishwakarma Scheme will play a major role in this direction and its opportunities need to be leveraged for women empowerment.<br />''<br />''Highlighting the growing women participation in the self help groups, Mr. Modi said, seven crore women have joined the self help groups in the last nine years. He said, in these years, women self-help groups have taken loans worth more than six lakh crore rupees.<br />''<br />''On the role of women self help groups in promotion of Shree Anna, the Prime Minister said, more than one crore tribal women with traditional experience in Shree Anna are part of these Self Help groups.<br />''<br />''The Prime Minister has pointed out that these women are contributing not only as small entrepreneurs but also as capable resource persons.<br />''<br />''Talking about the role of women in the cooperative sector, Mr. Modi said, more than two lakh multi-purpose cooperatives, dairy cooperatives and fisheries cooperatives are to be formed in the coming years.<br />''<br />''He said, a target has been set to connect one crore farmers with natural farming and women farmers can play a big role in this initiative.<br />''<br />''The Prime Minister reiterated that the country is moving with the spirit of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas.<br />''<br />''He said, India can move forward only by raising the levels of respect towards women and the bringing the sense of equality. He said, when women join armed forces and fly Rafale, it brings a change in the mindset of people about them.<br />''<br />''He expressed happiness over the election of two women MLAs in Nagaland. Referring to an article written by President Droupadi Murmu on the occasion of Women's Day on 8th of this month, Mr. Modi said, the President has written a very passionate article on women empowerment and everyone should understand the spirit with which the President has written this article.<br />''<br />''He urged the people to move forward with the determination to remove every obstacle coming in the way of girls and women.</span>