27-Jun-2018: NITI Aayog’s WEP Signs SoI with Financial Institutions & Social Organisations
NITI Aayog’s Women Entrepreneurs Platform (WEP) signed five separate Statement of Intent (SoIs) with Shri Mahila Sewa Sahakari Bank Limited, Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited, SREI Infrastructure Finance Limited, Sreemanta Sankar Mission and the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA).
The WEP was established on the occasion of International Women's Day in March 2018 to substantially increase the number of women entrepreneurs who will create and empower a dynamic New India.
The WEP intends to undertake this task through its partner organizations, private as well as public organizations; by bringing their existing as well as new women specific initiatives on a single platform, which in turn will also address knowledge gaps, promote partner connects and will increase the outreach of partner programmes.
The SoIs signed with financial institutions such as the Shri Mahila Sewa Sahakari Bank, Indiabulls Housing Finance and SREI Infrastructure Finance shall be housed under the WEP-Finance vertical and will provide financial assistance to women entrepreneurs and address the finance related challenges faced by them through WEP.
WEP will partner with the Sreemanta Sankar Mission of Guwahati to empower established as well as aspiring women entrepreneurs in North East India through WEP North East Chapter and will work to popularize WEP in North East so that more women entrepreneurs in that region can avail benefits under the WEP initiative. Similarly, the SoI with the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), a trade union and as an organization of poor, self-employed women workers, includes commitments to mobilize women entrepreneurs in rural areas and promote them in Livelihood Entrepreneurship.
Through its partner organizations, WEP aims to create opportunities and support women in order to help them realize their entrepreneurial aspirations, scale up innovative initiatives, and chalk out sustainable and long-term strategies for their businesses. WEP website which will be enriched with entrepreneurial initiatives and support programmes would guide you to schemes, initiatives and products relevant to your requirement.
The WEP is an initiative under the NITI Aayog which was launched on March 8, 2018 on the occasion of the International Women’s Day. The idea of the Platform was first mooted by Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog who announced the setting-up of a Women Entrepreneurship Platform in NITI Aayog at the conclusion of the 8th Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) held in Hyderabad in 2017 with an overarching theme of ‘Women first, Prosperity for All’.
8-Mar-2018: NITI Aayog launches Women Entrepreneurship Platform on International Women’s Day
NITI Aayog launched the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP), on the occasion of International Women’s Day. The initiative is aimed at building an ecosystem for women across India to realize their entrepreneurial aspirations, scale-up innovative initiatives and chalk-out sustainable, long-term strategies for their businesses.
CEO of NITI Aayog Mr. Amitabh Kant, launched the WEP platform at NITI Aayog premises in the capital in presence of UN Resident Coordinator in India Yuri Afanasiev, Kailash Kher, industry leaders and supporting partners. The WEP theme song “Nari Shakti” composed and sung by Shri Kailash Kher was released on this occasion.
Nominations for the Women Transforming India Awards, 2018 were also opened by Amitabh Kant and Yuri Afanasiev.
WEP was envisaged by the CEO NITI Aayog during Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) last year in Hyderabad. It aims to power a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem through an enabling network of industry collaborations, partnerships, mentors and peer-to-peer connect.
Established under the leadership of Ms. Anna Roy, Adviser (Industry) of NITI Aayog, the platform aspires to substantially increase the number of women entrepreneurs who will create and empower a dynamic New India. These aspirations are manifest in the three pillars on which WEP is built: Ichha Shakti (motivating aspiring entrepreneurs to start their enterprise), Gyan Shakti (providing knowledge and ecosystem support to women entrepreneurs to help them foster entrepreneurship) & Karma Shakti (providing hands-on support to entrepreneurs in setting-up and scaling up businesses).
With an informative, interactive website to act as a dedicated resource and knowledge base, WEP aims to address the bottlenecks faced by both aspiring and established women entrepreneurs by streamlining information across government and private sector schemes and initiatives.
WEP is to operate within a broader framework of industry collaborations and partnerships, which cut across sectors in the economy. From providing unique services such as credit evaluation of women-led startups by CRISIL and potential equity investments through an INR 10 crore fund established by DICE Districts, the WEP opens up avenues of growth and opportunity for women entrepreneurs.
3-Nov-2017: Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana launched to promote philately.
Minister of Communications launched a Pan India scholarship program for school children called Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana to increase the reach of Philately. Under the scheme of SPARSH (Scholarship for Promotion of Aptitude & Research in Stamps as a Hobby), it is proposed to award annual scholarships to children of Standard VI to IX having good academic record and also pursuing Philately as a hobby through a competitive selection process in all postal circles. Under the scheme, it is proposed to award 920 scholarships to students pursuing Philately as a hobby. Every Postal Circle will select a maximum of 40 scholarships representing 10 students each from Standard VI, VII, VIII & IX. The amount of Scholarship will be Rs. 6000/- per annum @ Rs. 500/- per month.
To avail this scholarship, a child must be a student of a recognized school within India and the concerned school should have a Philately Club and the candidate should be a member of the Club. In case the school Philately Club hasn’t been established a student having his own Philately Deposit Account will also be considered. Every prospective school, which participates in the competition, would be assigned a Philately mentor to be chosen from amongst the renowned Philatelists. The Philately mentor would help in formation of the School level Philately Club, providing guidance to young and aspiring Philatelists on how to pursue the hobby and also helping the aspiring Philatelists on their Philately Projects etc.
Shri Sinha said that selections under the Deen Dayal SPARSH scheme would be made based on the evaluation of Project work on Philately & performance in Philately Quiz conducted by the Circles.
Philately is the hobby of collection and study of Postage stamps. It also entails the collection, appreciation and research activities on stamps and other related philatelic products. The hobby of collecting Stamps includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloguing, displaying, storing, and maintaining the stamps or related products on thematic areas. Philately is called the king of hobbies because Stamp collection as a hobby has lot of educational benefits - it teaches a lot about the socio economic political reality of the period in which the stamp is issued or the theme on which it is issued.
24-Jun-2017: Kanyashree Scheme For Girls In Bengal Wins UN Award
The West Bengal government has won the prestigious UN Public Service Award for its initiative to combat child marriage and ensure education to the girl child in the state. The West Bengal government was among the 12 institutions from 11 countries that were recognised by the world body on UN Public Service Day, commemorated on June 23rd.
India was named first in the Asia-Pacific group for the category: ‘Reaching the Poorest and Most Vulnerable through Inclusive Services and Participation’. Through the initiative, cash was deposited into the bank account of girls for every year they remained in school and were unmarried. This initiative led to a drastic reduction in child marriage, increase in female education and female empowerment.
The UN Public Service Day is celebrated every year to recognise public service innovations and excellence that have led to more effective and inclusive public service delivery contributing to the achievement of the SDGs in countries worldwide.
The UN Public Service Awards are given to institutions from across the world for their innovation and excellence in providing public services. It highlights the pivotal role of public services in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Awards aim at discovering innovations in governance; reward excellence in the public sector; motivate public servants to further promote innovation; enhance professionalism in the public service; raise the image of public service; enhance trust in government; and collect and disseminate successful practices for possible replication.