Women Free To Keep Maiden Name In Passport After Marriage: Modi

We don’t get to hear good news for women every day, do we? Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday has announced that from now on, women don’t have to change their surnames in passports after marriage.

“From now onwards, women will not have to change their names in the passport after their marriage,” Modi said while addressing a gathering of the Indian Merchants Chambers’ ladies wing via a video conferencing, Livemint reported.

Yes, you heard that right! Women are free to retain their maiden names in their passports after marriage if they wish to.

Also Read: Prime Minister Narendra Modi gives boost to SMEs, women & housing

The key highlights:

He went on to mention that the aim is to put women at the centre of developmental schemes, adding that the BJP government is tirelessly working on various schemes to ensure more empowerment to women.

Why do we think that this a big boost for women? Because most married women have had to go from one official door to another in order to change their surnames. Now, at least, women don’t need to head off to passports offices to do the same which we all know can be very taxing.

On maternity leave and other schemes for women:

The PM then gave various examples of the development schemes and benefits like the maternity leave that the government has been planning and recently launched, adding that the woman of the house is the priority in all development schemes.

READ: PM Modi announces scheme for pregnant women

Modi also mentioned about the free cooking gas distribution project launched last year, saying “The government has set a target of covering as many as 5 crore people from BPL families over the next two years. Within a year of its launch, the scheme has already benefited 2 crore women.”

Praising women entrepreneurs:

“The biggest contributors to the dairy and livestock sectors are women,” he said. He went on to congratulate women for their entrepreneurial spirit. Modi added, “Wherever women are given an opportunity, they have proved that they are two steps ahead of the men.”

Also read: Great stuff: 26 weeks of maternity leave mandatory for private sector

Quoting Modi here, “70% of the Mudra loan (aimed at small borrowers for productive purposes) borrowers are women now, which indicates the rising entrepreneurial spirit of the women.”

That's a very good number indeed!

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