Women Led Development will Pave Way for Aatmanirbhar Bharat says Minister of State for MSME

By: WE Staff | Tuesday, 4 May 2021

Women-led growth, particularly in the MSME sector, will pave the way for Atmanirbhar Bharat, according to Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Minister of State for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises.

He was speaking at a webinar on ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat and Women's Economic Empowerment' organised by the women's wing of the FICCI-FLO Bhubaneswar Chapter.

'And women-led development will pave the way for Atmanirbhar Bharat, particularly in the MSME sector,' Sarangi said in his address, adding that Atmanirbhar Bharat is an age-old practice that was disrupted by foreign invasion.

Atmanirbhar Bharat, which means "self-reliant India," is a Hindi term popularised by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian government. The term refers to making India "a bigger and more important part of the global economy," as well as pursuing policies that are productive, sustainable, and resilient, as well as being self-sustaining and self-generating

He went on to say that India is a treasure trove of wealth, with enormous ability and capacity to support and enable women entrepreneurs in micro and small businesses to help the economy cope and recover.

Sunita Mohanty, Chairperson, FLO Bhubaneswar, in her welcome address,  welcomed the chief guest and others and spoke about FLO Bhubaneswar's vision for the year 2021-2022, which she described as "a year of inclusion." Dharitri Patnaik, the Immediate Past Chair, talked about women's issues as well as FLO's national initiatives.

FLO members from all over the world attended the conference.

The event aimed at encouraging today's women to feel inspired and motivated in these trying times.

FLO is the women wing of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI). FLO is an all-India women's forum with headquarters in New Delhi and 17 chapters covering India's various geographical regions.

Over 6800 women entrepreneurs and professionals are represented by FLO.

FLO has been promoting entrepreneurship and professional excellence among women for over 37 years through workshops, seminars, conferences, training, and capacity-building programmes, among other things.

The organization's goal is to promote and enable women's talents, expertise, experiences, and energies to be showcased across sectors and verticals of the economy, resulting in a genuinely inclusive economic growth trajectory.