Dravidian model govt implementing schemes for women’s education & empowerment: CM Stalin

CHENNAI: Facing flak from the opposition over the issue of women's safety in the State in the backdrop of the Anna University sexual assault incident, Chief Minister MK Stalin said that the DMK government has been implementing various schemes for the education and empowerment of women.

Stalin also said that the State was marching on the path of eradicating the enslavement of women.

At the inauguration of Kalaignar Women's Skill Development Centre established in Saidapet under the initiative of Health Minister Ma Subramanian, Stalin said, "Dravidian model government has been designing and implementing various welfare schemes for women's empowerment. Some of them are reservations for women in government jobs, the creation of self-help groups, and the assurance of equal share in ancestral property for women. We have been designing schemes to increase women's enrolment in higher education."

Stalin also underscored the implementation of schemes such as Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai, Vidiyal Payanam, Thozhi Hostels for women and the Pudhumai penn scheme to educate women. "Such initiatives have ensured that women get good jobs and access power. We have been implementing such schemes because only if women progress will society progress. The State is marching fast on the path of change by empowering women. The schemes listed above are being implemented to achieve that purpose," Stalin said.

Adding that the Dravidian movement was established to eradicate inequalities and uphold equality in society, the Chief Minister said, "One of the movement's main objectives was gender equality. The Dravidian model government has implemented various schemes with that goal in mind. The DMK government has been ensuring women's rights and development on the path Anna and Kalaignar laid down. The schemes testify to what Thanthai Periyar fought all his life."

Ministers Ma Subramanian, PK Sekar Babu, Mayor Priya Rajan and South Chennai MP Tamilachi Thangapandian also participated in the event.