Text of the Vice-President’s Address at News18 ‘She Shakti’ Conclave 2024
Text of the Vice-President’s Address at News18 ‘She Shakti’ Conclave 2024
Shri Rahul Joshi, editor in chief Network 18, acclaimed awardees, they inspire us they motivate us.
They have brought to the country laurels. The one from outside is also our culture Ambassador, recipient of our civilian award. Distinguished audience but there are some male members also. Well we are included. Media persons this is something very difficult. I would say nothing at the moment. It might generate a controversy bigger than I can handle because when you take to the path of truth you unfriends who are not friendly to you.
I deem it absolute honour to be associated with the second season of News18 SheShakti.
A privilege to share my thoughts on “The Holistic Approach to Woman Empowerment” – an issue of huge contemporaneous relevance to human resource empowerment across the globe. I am not apologetic to address on this issue merely because I am a male. I have been nurtured by my mother, my nani my dadi. I have to repay their debt and therefore I am qualified to make my contribution on Women Empowerment.
कहते हैं कि शुरुआत जब अच्छी होती है, शुभ लग्न में होती है, शुभ मुहूर्त में होती है तो नतीजे बहुत अच्छे आते हैं।
The present is an illustration is of it. A pleasant coincidence. News18She Shakti launched in August 2023 and what happened the very next month,-September 2023 ; Constitutional prescription for reservation of women to the extent of one third in Lok Sabha and State legislatures, and what a gratifying moment, For three decades our women, mothers and sisters waited patiently. Efforts were made, either they were aborted or they were unsuccessful.
But on September 28, 2023 the Hon’ble President of India Smt. Droupadi Murmu the first tribal woman to occupy that august high office in Bharat – home to one-sixth of humanity. She penned her signatures under Article 111 and it became a constitutional provision.
What an accomplishment, what a coincidence.
Friends, reservation in Lok Sabha and state legislatures to the extent of one-third is epochal development. It is bound to be game changer. On a global benchmark, it is the most revolutionary step ever taken on the planet to empower women.
I pose a question to myself, who are we to empower women? They are repository of power. Power resides in you. It is just that you have discovered your power.
It is not a gift of anyone. You earned your due, I would say belatedly, but it has fructified at a time which is a moment to be ever cherished by me. I happen to be chairman Rajya Sabha when this was passed. But what will be the impact? Impact will be women in that number plus. This is minimum assurance.
There will be more women. They will be part of policy making. They will be part of decision making.
They will be part of governance. And they will be compulsively part of governance. I can imagine parliament with more than one-third women.
It is going to be all order. No disruption. No disturbance.
Debate, dialogue, discussion will take place. And they will bring on the table huge experience. They know firsthand how to nurture human resource.
They have nurtured all males, many of them nuisance in early childhood and thereafter. Some very tuant but they never give up hope, patiently they persecuted in there sublime activity. They natured us and therefore I am rightly speaking before you. I am paying a debt.
What is the meaning of democracy? Democracy means one party comes to power no. Democracy means there must be evolution of a mechanism that allows each of us to exploit our talent realise our potential, fructify our dreams and aspirations and that improves the most important component of humanity, fifty percent of humanity the women.
Presently what I find all around in the nation and outside there is a daunting scenario for those who are challenged, those who are vulnerable and some people have the audacity to call women the weaker sex. They are terribly wrong. Power resides in you.
Look at what has happened over the ages. Such a scenario has to change. The happy thing is, the fortunate development is, it is soothing to note that in recent years affirmative governance initiatives taken, policies made, they have facilitated this exploitation of talent.
Democracy is defined by the mechanism it has not for the rich, not for the privileged, not for the privileged pedigree-privileged pedigree in this case is non existent. All are equal but democracy is primarily made for whom?
It is made for those who are vulnerable, those who are challenged those who need handholding so that the real talent which is handicapped by challenges is overcome.
Friends, women empowerment will be boosted by whom, by women, no-one else. You don’t need right to make a choice. Please make your choice. You don’t wait someone to tell you access opportunities, access them. You control your funds, you become economically independent and you have full control over your lives. The system could not be more affirmative than it is at the moment.
In the Vedas, we had women, great scholars they dominated the seer, to name Gargi, Maitri, Vishambhara and Apala.
And let me remind you friends, In Vedic Kaal the prestige and dignity of women was at peak but a decline took place thereafter.
A son was desired and birth of a daughter was viewed as a sadness. Participation in political gatherings seized we had evolution of menacing trends like child marriage, sati system and dowry.
There was a time when men and women were equal, and that was about 1000-1500 years ago before Christ. They were on the same pedestal, contributing with equality. Somewhere we lost the way but gratifying we are finding that way. We are getting into the right groove, earnest efforts are being made to regain the past glory.
Women reservation as I said in legislatures is one such step in the right direction.
Undoubtedly, education’s availability, healthcare and economic independence they are key to securing empowerment. Without these you will only be hand holding. You’ll develop parasitical tendencies. Empowerment means that they empower you, they exploit their own talents, they are not dependent they are interdependent in a society and I have no doubt in saying I am product of one, Education!
Education is the beginning point. If education shall be available then the chains of inequality will be shattered.
Rightly it has been said by many, You educate a boy- you educate one. You educate a girl- you educate a family and this is a ground reality.
I have always believed and subscribed and I am sure no one will disagree education is the most impactful transformative mechanism to bring about equality to cut into inequities, to generate level playing field. This is being done massively and the results are encouraging.
But after much has been done Beti Padhao is a great success. Our women are participating in every facet of governance. They are exemplifying dedication, commitment and talent. But gender equality eludes them still. In any system, including the one that is before me, Somehow or the other, this gender equality is eluding us. Gender discrimination has ostensibly vanished. But it has assumed subtle forms.
Subtle forms which you can’t fight. You can’t describe. And that is the area where we have to hit the hardest.
Subtle discrimination is far more dangerous than the overt one. Because overt one you can’t resist. But subtle discrimination, you have difficulty in resisting.
I appeal to you to rise to the occasion.
There has been a paradigm shift I wouldn’t say in last decade. They will take it is a political development but then that’s what it is- Beti Padhao, MUDRA- Mudra has given women that kind of independence. They have become employers.
They employ themselves and they employ others- A big change and therefore the paradigm shift has taken place from woman development to woman-led development. Except few males here others would have rejoiced the budget presented by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. She created history as the first full woman Finance Minister of this nation with largest democracy, and she had a record also overtaking that of Morarji Desai. That is one example.
At a global horizon, you will find women are making impactful presence. When we talk of holistic empowerment of women, we are not talking of something new. Our constitution has it, our constitutional essence, spirit. And what does our preamble ordain Justice, Liberty and Equality for all citizens. That is what we are discussing, we have to realise it.
As a matter of fact, this is not new to India. Our civilisational ethos of thousands of years have it. Look around the globe.
Bharat is a mine store of wisdom and knowledge. On every facet, and that we are revealing to the world, and the world is benefiting enormously by that.
Some males are present here I find they are slightly subdued but you’ll have to change your mindset. Come on be a man, what does it mean? Don’t be a girl. यह क्या है? कौनसी दुनिया में हो? उतने हालात बदल चुके हैं जितने हालात बदलते मैंने देखे हैं।
I was elected to Parliament in 1989. I was a Minister. jab मैंने क्या देखा भारत की अर्थव्यस्था लंदन और पेरिस से छोटी थी । सोने की चिड़िया वाला देश का foreign exchange was dwindling between 1 billion and $2 billion. your editor in chief today had the occasion to interview the finance minister right and now it is over 680 billion. But it was placed to two banks in physical form.
मैंने क्या देखा जब कश्मीर गया मंत्री की हैसियत से I सेंटर होटल में रुके थे डल लेक के कोने पर I 20-30 लोग भी नहीं दिख रहे थे I Now official record more than 2 crore people visited Jammu Kashmir last year. आपको mindset बदलने में क्या लगता है जब भारत इतना बदल चुका है?
We have traversed a journey against headwinds, difficult terrain negotiated getting short from fragile five to big five economies, on way t o becoming third largest economy in two years.What stops you from changing your mindset when per capita digital consumption of an Indian is more than that of China and he was taken together. There was a time when a Prime Minister, a member of criticising him, a good friend of mine.
But he lamented that कि दिल्ली से पैसा भेजता हूँ पता नहीं कहाँ लीकेज हो जाता है पंद्रह पैसे पहुँचता है। अब क्या हो गया है ?
अब कमाल हो गया है, अब सीधा एकाउंट में पहुंचता है।
No human interface, No middleman, No liaison agent and there was a time when our power corridors were infested with corrupt elements. You could not have a contract opportunity without bringing them in picture.
Power corridors have been sanitised.
आप mindset बदलिए,
I appeal to my male community.(1:27) Let us repair the debt to our mothers and sisters, and grandmothers and Nanis, and look at the another change we have taken place.
था एक ज़माना People entertained the idea. What can law do to us? They forgot, be you ever so high the law is above you. They said no.
Some crazy person said so it is not the reality in India. But now you must have seen, ground reality is there All are equal before law. All are accountable. All are within the reach of a stranglehold of law.
And not only that, the law is in fact befriending. It is happening. When so much is happening for the better, I appeal to the male society. Please change your mindset before it is too late.
Gender sanitization and sensitization. sanitization I refer to male and sensitization I want to see that are girls and women get into right frame. It is of Paramount importance.
We must be friends, we must be firmly dismissive and contemptuous of insane thoughts of the kind that belittle barbarity of rape and murder of a female doctor in Kolkata while in hospital on duty and someone calls it a symptomatic malaise. What a shame. We are accountable to our conscience. This is an issue for attainment to get into correction mode we cannot suffer and therefore I come to another aspect.
In our country, we have given iconic status to people. Elevated to them great heights in all fields, including journalism.
For what? They are good at event management.
They manage their affairs well. They become great because *? . Then they become our guides.
Then they go to the extent of saying, oh, what happened in Bangladesh can happen here. I tell you, mindset change is required not only for gender justice. Mindset is required also for our commitment to nationalism.
We cannot allow people day in and day out to overlook national interest for selfish and partisan interests. We in this country have to understand we are a civilisation more than 5,000 years old, deeply embedded in virtuosity, sublimity. It is our first duty to secure gender justice and that is part of our nationalism.
We must nurture it as much as we can.
Let me tell you which my male friends have ignored. Did you have the occasion to see spectacular Republic Day Parade on Kartavya path in 2024 January. We were absent sir. My male friends, they were there in full bloom in combat position, in cultural position. आज की नारी थल जल आकाश और अंतरिक्ष में धूम मचा रखी है. When I went to ISRO to complement them for Chandrayan 3 success वहां भी शिव शक्ति पॉइंट है ज्यादा फर्क नहीं है तिरंगा पॉइंट है I Suddenly I have all women contingent led by the rocket women. Our science institution are headed by them. They have enormous capacity to contribute.
I appeal to our sisters please address the challenges smash the glass ceiling that comes in the way of your advancement. And let me tell you the glass is beaten you only have to take the lead.
India’s structured democracy, no one in the world has that democracy. India has constitutionally structure democracy at the village level at the Taluka level at the district level apart from state and Central level and there in you will be surprise to learn at the moment 1.4 million women elected in Panchayati Raj Institutions, constituting 46% of total elected representatives.
Therefore, I would urge empowerment in general and women empowerment in particular is a premises on which we will sustain our economic surge and exponential growth in infrastructure.
When we are taken today as Global leader the image of our nation is very different. When our nation speaks through the Prime Minister, the voice is heard because that voice matters. Therefore, if we change our mind set we are not losers. यह तो पूरा फायदा ही फायदा है यह फायदे का काम करो इसकी शुरुआत यहां से हो रही है I
I appeal to all in our country we need to have positive approach. We need to battle from negativism. We must not yield to sensationalism because that is the easiest way. I look on occasions the same story going on all the channels and each channel claiming they are the first one and they say we are breaking the story and they say it is exclusive to us. What do I do? You are doing something which was known much before. We are living in tough times, most closely guarded secrets are open secrets on the street people just don’t talk about it.
If we don’t believe in our nationalism, the heart of Indian mind is hurt, our sentiments are crashed. If you do it outside, fraternise with those who have inimical ideas about this Nation, our heart bleeds not for this stance but for their ignorance. Let us enlighten them
Be wary of self-serving individuals. They will become champion of your cause, there will be must growth of Institutions, they will come with innovative ideas and we will never ask them tough questions. I personally feel Indian women does not require hand holding to secure her right. She can do very well. We have to only provide structured mechanism of education, healthcare, economic independence and enhance the basket of opportunities for them and therefore my appeal to my sisters “Overcome all barriers, visible or invisible. Invisible ones are more dangerous because they have ill intent, malafide approach. They wish to monetize in the name of helping you. Therefore deal with them tough.
Discriminatory treatment, even if subtle, which it will be on umpteen occasions, rebuff it spiritedly. Time to effect change you need and aspire rather than seek change. You are not a passenger in the vehicle you are in the driver’s seat.
I commend your initiative. I wish it a great success and I have no doubt I am confident I am optimistic it’s a great service to the humanity because awareness about gender justice will get incremental trajectory.
Thank you so much