Ravi Shankar Prasad felicitates the Digital India (Women) Champions

The ICEGOV Conference, being hosted by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology at New Delhi witnessed participation from more than 70 women who have been leading of Digital India movement by the Government of India by example.

These Village Level Entrepreneurs are pioneering access to digital services and financial inclusion in rural India through the Common Services Centers (CSCs) under Digital India Programme.

These women Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) have prevailed over societal and family barriers to emerge as successful rural entrepreneurs in their communities. Many have also gone a step ahead to emerge as change makers in their communities.

Apart from the women VLEs, eight young women, who have been empowered through digital literacy under Digital Saksharta Abhiyan and are now working as agents of Digital India, had also attended the Conference.

Addressing a session on Digital India Empowerment, conducted by some of the women VLEs, Hon’ble Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “Digital India is for the masses with the objective of empowering every citizen. I am very proud of the VLEs as they are the real change agents. The VLEs through their CSCs have done an outstanding job in providing digital training to the citizens in the hinterland of the country; I wish them success to take this movement to the next level and get noticed by the global community.”

“In recognition to the outstanding work done by the VLEs, I would like to announce that along with Indian companies, now on MNCs will also able to avail the services of Common Services Centres.” Added Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad.

The Hon’ble Minister unveiled a publication titled “Digital India: Empowering Women” in the presence of Shri P. P. Chaudhary, Hon’ble MoS, Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice and Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, showcasing the stories of change of the women VLEs.

The Hon’ble Minister also presented laptops to the eight young women who, after being digitally empowered, are now working as Aadhaar supervisors and data entry operators at the CSCs. Khusboo Sharma and Aakashika Verma from Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, Om Kumari Sahu and Thameshwari Yadav from Dhamtari, Chhattisgarh,  Taruna Agrawal and Manisha Devi  from Alwar, Rajasthan, Mithilesh from Unjhapur, Rajasthan and Anita Luhar from Fatehpur, Rajasthan were there amongst the recipients of the same.

A panel discussion was conducted by five women VLEs on the occasion. Tanuja Raichura, Priyanka Bali, Anghrija Basu, Sadhana Sharma and Lily Medo shared their experiences on various topics ranging from digital literacy, telemedicine, digital financial transactions, rural and women’s empowerment.

The programme concluded with oath taking by the VLEs where they pledged to digitally empower their community members, extend financial inclusion and access to health care for the rural masses.

The programme concluded with oath taking by the VLEs where they pledged to digitally empower their community members, extend financial inclusion and access to health care for the rural masses.

This was the first time that women VLEs were representing Digital India at an international event. The three-day event saw them participate in the sessions with vigour and take pride in their work of effecting a change in rural India.