Mumbai, November 20: The UPA government has taken a big step in wooing the country’s women voters, who virtually form half of the voting population, by throwing open the first all-woman bank here on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, accompanied by Congress President Sonia Gandhi and finance minister P Chidambaram, was in India’s financial powerhouse to launch Bharatiya Mahila Bank(BMB) which would benefit women, especially those from the lesser privileged classes.
Speaking at the launch event, Singh said BMB is the first step towards economic empowerment of women.
“We have also embarked on a process of amending our laws to make them more gender-sensitive and to enable them to effectively address issues of gender discrimination. But much more needs to be done,” the Prime Minister said, pointing out that access to finance and banking not only empowers women but also broadens the social base of development and fosters more equitable growth.
This is an area where India lags far behind, Singh said adding: “Our women have minimal access to finance and financial products. We need to change this state of affairs to enable our women.”
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