XX Factor Of Narendra Modi's 11 Years: Five Unsung Gems For Women
The force that nurtures Bharat and makes up for half her people is quietly rising, and transformation is happening even in the remotest parts of the nation at unprecedented speed
Just before the 2014 elections, in an interview with a popular news anchor, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi came across as a deer caught in the headlights. Many believe that with that interview, he did not just throw the election, but his political career as well.
Completely out of depth and lunging desperately for words, he kept coming up with just two: 'Empowering women."
What then became a national joke has turned into national irony after 11 years of Narendra Modi as prime minister. It is as if the ruling BJP has snatched women's empowerment out of Rahul Gandhi's mouth and turned it into its own mission.
On completing 11 years, the Modi government is predictably advertising its achievements. Big-ticket reforms get the most coverage and prominent among them are the deep changes the government brought for the nation's women.
Building more than 12 crore toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission, for instance, has transformed the lives of crores of underprivileged women who had to step out in the wee hours before dawn to relieve themselves in the open. Or ensuring 100 per cent penetration of LPG cylinders in households under the Ujjwala scheme, which has freed rural women and those living in India's shantytowns of the lethal smoke from the chulha or clay burners.
These are widely acknowledged game-changers. But if one dives into the details of Modi's 11-year report card, there are at least five less-talked-about but fascinating changes that his government has brought for Indian women.
First, India now has more girls being born than boys. This used to be unthinkable once. The sex ratio per 1,000 males, which was 943 in 2011, rose to 1,020 by 2019-21. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, a scheme which focused on girl education, and a crackdown on illegal sex determination centres brought about tremendous awareness against female foeticide.
Second, female labour force participation has risen from 23.3 per cent in 2017-18 to 41.7 per cent in 2023-24. As India inches towards an equal gender ratio in its labour force, credit must go to skill training, more self-help groups, and entrepreneurship schemes.
The second one flows from the third. The number of self-help groups saw a rise from 2.35 crore in 2014 to 10.05 crore in 2024, more than four-fold. Schemes like Lakhpati Didi, in which women cross an annual household income exceeding Rs 1,00,000 through financial inclusion and entrepreneurship, have started showing results.
Fourth, institutional deliveries have risen from 61 per cent in 2014-15 to 97.3 per cent in 2023-24. The government's LaQshya programme, which extends quality childbirth and postpartum care and better hospital infrastructure, is leaving an impact.
Fifth, maternal mortality is down from 130 per lakh live births in 2014-16 to 97 in 2018-20. Two schemes in particular—PM Surakshit Matriva Abhiyan and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana—have driven the change.
Behind these figures stand the government's mammoth will and effort. The force that nurtures Bharat and makes up for half her people is quietly rising, and transformation is happening even in the remotest parts of the nation at unprecedented speed.
The words Rahul Gandhi clumsily tried to use as a shield in that interview—empowering women—has ironically been set in motion by his nemesis, NaMo.
Abhijit Majumder is a senior journalist. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18's views.
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First Published:
June 17, 2025, 10:41 IST
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