How India's Digital Saksharta Abhiyan Strengthens G20 Nari Shakti Model

Women make up half the world's population. PM Modi stated at the Bali Summit last G20 that success cannot be achieved without the participation of women. India's G20 Nari Shakti Model has women-led development as its goal.

India's Presidency this year came with the promise of women empowerment at the grassroots level as a part of its Nari Shakti Model. The theme for International Women's Day this year was 'DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality.'

Women today have made contributions to the field of artificial intelligence, computing, virtual reality, and more. Despite these leaps, the digital divide still leaves women the most affected by it.

Even when some semblance of technological advance has been achieved there is the matter of cyber threat to be considered.

Actions taken by the government through political, educational, and economic empowerment of women, and digital schemes for women need to be developed to bridge the digital gap in India.

Rural campaigns In India that support its G20 Naari Shakti Model 

The Digital India programme came up Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) initiative. The goal of this initiative is to bridge the digital divide affecting marginalised sections, the rural area, women, and girl children. This initiative covers 6 crore households in rural areas.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has backed this rural initiative by coming up with an initiative of its own. Their initiative that seeks implementation during the fifteenth Finance Commission caters to the Empowerment, Security, and Safety of Women. The initiative is called 'Mission Shakti.'

The sub-scheme 'Sambal' from 'Mission Shakti' deals with the security and safety of women. The second sub-scheme 'Samarthya' deals with women's empowerment. Hub for Empowerment of Women (HEW) has been incorporated into 'Samarthya' to facilitate inter-sectoral scheme convergence. Districts, States, UTs, and the Center can benefit from this Digital literacy scheme.

National Commission of Women's, 'Digital Shakti Campaign' in collaboration with Cyberpeace Foundation and Meta seeks to educate women on stalkers, scammers, hackers, and more. This pan-India project will focus on teaching women how to protect themselves in cyberspace and any anti-legal activities that take place online.

Suggested reading: G20 Proposal: India’s Digital Gender Gap And The Urgency To Bridge It