Centre has no data to back claims on women empowerment: Bengal minister

Whenever we seek data from them, they fail to provide us with any, she said, The Union government had launched Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme, but our daughters are neither studying nor are they safe in BJP-ruled states, the minister alleged.Here, in Bengal, women empowerment does not stop at education.

The Centre spends money on its propaganda on women empowerment but have no data to back the claims made in the advertisements, as women in BJP-ruled states continue to remain unsafe, West Bengal minister and senior TMC leader Shashi Panja claimed on Saturday. Addressing a press meet here at Trinamool Bhavan, Panja said 67 lakh girls have benefitted from the Bengal government's 'Kanyashree' project, which has incurred an expense of Rs 9,000 crore so far on the state's exchequer.

The Centre, however, doesn't have data on the beneficiaries of its women empowerment schemes, the state women and child welfare minister alleged. "It seems NDA stands for 'No Data Available', and not National Democratic Alliance. Whenever we seek data from them, they fail to provide us with any," she said, The Union government had launched 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' scheme, but "our daughters are neither studying nor are they safe in BJP-ruled states", the minister alleged.

"Here, in Bengal, women empowerment does not stop at education. We believe political empowerment is equally important," she said. "In Parliament, across both Houses, we (the TMC) have 35 percent female MPs. And in the BJP's case, it (women's representation) is less than 10 percent," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)