Women's empowerment initiative pioneered in Barmer extended to cover Rajasthan

Jaipur: An initiative for women's empowerment with a 360-degree broad-based approach that was launched in Barmer in November will now be extended to cover the entirety of Rajasthan.

'Maru Udaan' was started by Barmer collector Tina Dabi for empowering women. The initiative will be rolled out across the state on January 9.

The 'Rajasthan Maru Udaan' initiative will cover a range of activities and sessions such as on mental and physical health, skills training, personal finance management, entrepreneurship from home, self-defence, cybercrime and driving courses.

It will include training workshops for millet cookies, environment conservation, and water and waste management. Health camps in vulnerable pockets will also be held.

The activities will be organised at the district and the Panchayat Samiti level.

"Keeping in mind the programme's utility and effectiveness, it will be implement in all districts from January 9 under the name 'Rajasthan Maru Udaan'," Neetu Rajeshwar, the women empowerment department commissioner, said in an order.

The medical and health, industries, police, transport, agriculture and horticulture, and the education departments will participate in the programme.

The expenditure for programmes and activities to be organised under 'Rajasthan Maru Udaan' can be used from the budget of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Yojana.

Financial assistance can also be taken by onbroading CSR partners.

As part of 'Maru Udaan' in Barmer, 12 block- and one district-level dialogue was organised across all panchayat headquarters.

"More than 3,000 women participated. The programme began on November 12 and the final block-level dialogue took place on November 28, with the district-level event concluding on November 29 at Barmer's town hall," Dabi told PTI.

She said the programme's long-term goal was to create a chain system for women's empowerment.

"Women who participate in the sessions will be trained and motivated to educate others about health, financial management and skill development, becoming 'brand ambassadors' for the initiative," she said.

The initiative was designed to promote women's health, education, self-employment, self-defence, and confidence. The block-level programmes focused on maximising women participation to foster empowerment, she said.

"About 50 sessions were held, with four key sessions in each programme. In these sessions, subject experts interacted with women and girls on topics such as mental and physical health, financial management, skills and vocational training, government schemes and career counselling," Dabi added.

Instead of large groups, small groups of 55-60 women were formed for the sessions to encourage open discussion.

"This approach allowed women to freely express their issues and concerns, which were then addressed by the experts," Dabi said.