LS Speaker Om Birla Stresses Women's Role in India's Development

By: WE staff | Monday, 15 September 2025

• Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla stated that India will be developed and inclusive when women are self-dependent and educated
• He addressed the first National Conference of the Committees on Empowerment of Women

The Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said on Sunday that India may only be made an inclusive and developed country with women being educated and independent.

He said this while opening the first-ever National Conference of the Committees on Empowerment of Women of Parliament and State/UT Legislatures at Tirupati.

He reiterated that women-led development, with a focus on women empowerment and child care, is the keystone of India's vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047.

The two-day conference, 'Women-led Development for Viksit Bharat', was particularly themed on 'Gender Responsive Budgeting' and 'Empowering Women to Face the Challenges of Emerging Technologies'.

Om Birla called it a historic moment in India's democracy where we, policymakers, lawmakers, and women leaders had an opportunity to share the values and experiences, which shape inclusive policy making. 

Conference attendees included women leaders, and multiple women, including young women leaders who were eager to plan how women's leadership, equality and inclusion could be elevated across multiple areas of life.

The Speaker had made a remarkable observation that the conference focused on women empowerment and child welfare as fundamental parts of national development.

He stressed emphasizing women's positions of leadership from the level of local Panchayat to Parliament, creating laws, and policies, that were inclusive, and achieving women's economic independence as the most important pieces of architecture of a Viksit Bharat existing in 2047.

Indian women are demonstrating their competencies throughout the breadth of possibilities from space studies and science, sports, literature, and politics.

He conceded the country has had Presidents, Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers, Governors, Speakers, and Parliamentarians as women; implying this is where the country is placing women leadership.

He also mentioned the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam as a landmark constitutional amendment institutionalizing this change.

He remembered that it was the first Bill approved in the new Parliament complex, which provides reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies. The legislation, he said, transcends symbolism by ensuring women's representation in government and empowering future generations of women leaders.