Kanpur hosts workshop on women empowerment in agriculture

Most countries in the world still deal with extreme gender disparity. In countries like India however, this is a serious concern as crimes against women are coming to light at an alarming rate. To address issues like this, the Chandra Shekhar Azad Agriculture University in Kanpur, organized a two-day national workshop on women empowerment, that was inaugurated on Wednesday.

Titled 'Women Empowerment during 12th Five Year Plan through agricultural mechanization,' the workshop hosted around 15 experts and 180 delegates from all over the country. Eleven NGOs and farmers were also honoured for their work and their contribution in the field of agriculture. The Planning Commission advisor, Government of India, JP Mishra, also spoke at the occasion.

According to a report by Times of India, he said, "Agriculture in the present scenario is not possible without modern technology and machinery. Even today machinery is designed keeping male farmers in mind, which makes it difficult for women to handle and work on it. We need to work on redesigning machinery keeping women farmers in mind."

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The advisor added that 70% of India’s women actively participate in agriculture and so it was important to keep women workers in mind when designing agricultural machinery. He also said, "Women's contribution in agricultural sector can be utilized to increase agricultural sector's contribution in GDP."

Times of India reported that while JP Mishra was the chief guest on the occasion, AK Tiwari, director, Planning Commission, Bhopal, was the special guest. Mishra said that 56% of India’s population is dependent on agriculture but their contribution in national GDP is only 18%: which he believes is quite low compared to other countries.

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Times of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kanpur/National-workshop-on-women-empowerment-inaugurated/articleshow/45637724.cms