Budget And Her: Six Women-centric Announcements You Should Know

Union Budget 2018 has not failed to address and advocate the cause of women’s empowerment in its allocations. This year's budget is aimed at increasing the participation of women in the workplace in much larger numbers.While looking at the Union Budget 2018 these are the six women-centric announcements you need to focus on:

• LOANS TO WOMEN SHGs

Women SHGs have proved to be a successful setup in rural places where women can sustain themselves by collecting small amounts of money. It has attracted attention from the central government, who has announced an increase in loans to women Self-Help Groups to 75,000 Crores by March 2019.

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• DIGITIZATION OF EDUCATION

This budget has hugely emphasized on the usage of technology in education. “Focus of the govt. next year will be to provide a better livelihood in the rural areas. We now propose to treat education holistically with integration from Class 2 to Class 12. The digital intensity in education will be increased. We will take education from blackboards to digital boards. There will be integrated B.Ed. programs to start soon. With teachers training as the main focus."

Take home salary of new women employees to go up in the formal sector. Only 8% PF to be cut in first three years.

• INCREASE IN TAKE HOME SALARY OF WOMEN

“The core of policy-making aims to create job opportunities. The government will fund 12% of wages for new employees of Employees' Provident Fund in all sectors. Take home salary of new women employees to go up in the formal sector. Only 8% PF to be cut in first three years. There is no change in EPF," said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

• UJWALLA YOJANA EXTENDED

While earlier the government targeted to provide Ujwalla Yojana to five crore women, now it has announced an increase of three crore women. With this making LPG freely available to eight crore women in total.

• MORE TOILETS TO BE BUILT

“Swachh Bharat has constructed more than six crore toilets. Two crore more toilets is the target in the next two years," says Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. This will prove as a boon for women in the country.

• MORE JOBS FOR WOMEN IN HEALTHCARE

Jaitley has announced a National Health Protection Scheme – Rashtriya Samaj Beema Yojana. “This is the world's largest government-funded healthcare program. A Rs 600 crore corpus is being set up to help Tuberculosis patients. This will build a new India in 2022 and enhance productivity and will also generate lakhs of jobs for women.”

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