States Will Soon Be Ranked On Women's Empowerment

According to the 2015 United Nations Human Development Index, India ranks 135 among 147 nations on women's empowerment. In a bid to better its rank, the government will soon come out with a women empowerment index that would rank all states and Union Territories on six indices related to women.

The various factors that will be taken into consideration for allotting ranks to states are the number of working women in the state, women having bank accounts, number of women experiencing domestic violence and the extent of women's participation in the household.

Other indices on which states will be ranked are health, education, water management, agriculture, energy efficiency and digital drive.

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A senior government official told ET that Niti Aayog has already conducted rounds of discussions with all stakeholders, including ministry of women and child development, health ministry and the ministry of statistics and programme implementation to finalise the indices for gauging empowerment of women in each state.

“The first such ranking of states based on the empowerment of women is expected to be out by the end of this year and would help the Centre assist states to improve the condition of women's population,” the official said.

He also said that they will be using the data from the National Family Health Survey to form the basis of the survey.

By devising a women empowerment index, the government has taken a concrete measure which will help state governments amplify their efforts towards elevating the status of women in the country.

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Charvi Is An Intern With SheThePeople.TV