Women in Poverty Alleviation Programmes in India

Poverty is denial of the opportunities and choices most basic to human life – the opportunity to lead a long, healthy, and creative life, and to enjoy a decent standard of living, freedom, dignity, self-esteem, and respect from others (HDR97). This concept of poverty, referred to as ‘human poverty’ and distinct from ‘income poverty’ is multidimensional. Lack of income generating employment for a maintaining decent standard of living is an important dimension of poverty, but is not the only one. Poverty encompasses lack of choices and opportunities rather than income alone. The Human Development Report (1997), introduced a composite measure of poverty- ‘Human Poverty Index’ (HPI) with four key dimensions: survival, knowledge, decent standard of living, and social participation and widened the concept beyond the limits of income per capita. Further in-depth studies from both developed and developing countries show that women more than men are subjected to relative as well as absolute poverty. In societies throughout the world, women face restrictions on their choices and opportunities that men do not. Gender differences like unequal opportunity in schooling, discrimination in economic sphere, lack of access to health and material means, social exclusion, and exclusion from participation in decision-making lead to lower incomes in women. With growing realization that the gender perspectives in poverty cannot be ignored, policy makers across the world now support gender mainstreaming as a key strategy of women empowerment and poverty alleviation measures have began to focus on women separately.

Women in the India

According to the Report of the Working Group on Empowerment of Women for the XI Five Year Plan, “Poverty is increasingly becoming feminised - mainly on account of the fact that with globalization and liberalization, a paradigm shift in the country’s economy has taken place skewed towards technology dominated sectors, rendering traditional sectors like agriculture unviable and without any security cover.” Wide gender gaps exit in literacy, employment and in wage rates. Other gender issues include violence against women and the rising incidence of female feticide and infanticide. The important concern is growing feminization of poverty and the exploitation of women in the unorganized sector. The following data reveals the status of Women in India. BOX 1 – Women’s Work in India -- Invisible, Unrecognized and Unremunerated

 India has 397 million workers  123.9 million are women  106 million are in rural areas and 18 million are in urban areas  Only 7% of India’s labour force is in the organized sector; 93% is in unorganized, informal sector  96% of women workers are in unorganized sector  Female work participation rate (WPR) has increased from 19.7% in 1981 to 25.7% in2001  In rural areas female WPR has increased from 23.1 to 31%  In urban areas it has increased from 8.3 to 11.6%  But women reported as non workers in the census found to spending 4 hours a day  picking, sowing, grazing cattle, threshing, or working as domestic servants for 8-10 hours a day!

Source: Report of the Working Group on Empowerment of Women for the XI Five Year Plan. Ministry of Women and Child , GOI, www.aicte-india.org/downloads/woman_empowerment.pdf

“ Eradication of poverty based on sustained economic growth, social development, environmental protection and social justice requires the involvement of women in economic and social development, equal opportunities and the full and equal participation of women and men as agents and beneficiaries of people-centered sustainable development.” The Beijing Declaration, The Fourth World Conference on Women, 1995

The founding United Nations charter (1945) included a provision for equality between men and women. From 1945 to 1975 various steps were taken to turn these principles into action. Women and poverty was a theme at the First World Conference on Women held in 1975. It resulted in the ‘Declaration of Mexico on the Equality of Women and Their Contribution to Development and Peace.’ The Copenhagen conference, 1980 also acknowledged the gap between rights being secured for women and women's ability to exercise those rights. In 1993, the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) took up the theme of ‘Women in Extreme Poverty: Integration of Women’s Concerns in National Development Planning.’ In The Beijing declaration, a resolution was adopted by the UN at the end of the Fourth World conference on Women on 15 September 1995 and it put forward a set of principles concerning the equality of men and women - The Beijing Platform for Action. The first critical area of concern needing strategic action defined by it was ‘persistent and increasing burden of poverty on women’. It recognized gender equality as essential for the eradication of poverty and endorsed gender mainstreaming as a key strategy so that, before decisions are taken, an analysis is made of the effects on women and men respectively. It stated that it is essential to design, implement and monitor, with the full participation of women, effective, efficient and mutually reinforcing gender-sensitive policies and programmes, including development policies and programmes, at all levels that will foster the empowerment and advancement of women. The four strategic objectives laid down were:  Review, adopt and maintain macroeconomic policies and development strategies that address the needs and efforts of women in poverty.  Revise laws and administrative practices to ensure women's equal rights and access to economic resources.  Provide women’s access to savings and credit mechanisms and institutions.  Develop gender-based methodologies and conduct research to address the feminisation of poverty. In 1997 the General Assembly launched the First United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty. The twenty-third special session of the General Assembly 2000 called on governments to reduce the disproportionate number of women in living in poverty by the implementation of national antipoverty programmes with a gender focus. With the United Nations Millennium Declaration (2000) governments resolved to “halve by the year 2015, the proportion of the world’s people whose income is less than one dollar a day” and “to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women as effective ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate development that is truly sustainable, implicitly recognizing the centrality of gender equality and empowerment of women to the achievement of all international development goals.”(MDG 3) World Summit Outcome 2005 included a commitment to “actively promote the mainstreaming of a gender perspective in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and social spheres.” The fourth strategic objective of the Beijing Declaration was to develop gender-based methodologies and conduct research to address the feminisation of poverty. Today the HDR uses composite indices of gender disparities in human development – i.e., gender development index (GDI) and gender empowerment measure (GEM) indices that show the extent of discrimination against women and the gender gaps in education and health. The GDI measures gender gaps in human development achievements by accounting for disparities between women and men in three basic dimensions - health, knowledge and living standards using the same component indicators as in the HDI. It is a direct measure of gender gap showing the female HDI as a percentage of the male HDI. Women in Five Year Plans in India

Report of the Committee of Status of Women in India (CSWI) entitled “towards equality” 1974, was a benchmark in introducing gender in issues of poverty, livelihood, social equality, economic well being, political participation and health. Economists and policy makers began challenging the neutrality of the national level development policies and ‘The national plan of action’ 1976 was the first attempt by the women’s bureau in this direction. In late seventies, WID ‘Women in Development’ concept acquired popularity wherein various government programmes began to clearly to define women as beneficiaries. This was followed by a shift to WAD - ‘Women and Development’- women as agents of development. The National Plan of Action for women, 1978 empowered a committee to process the recommendations of CSWI. Between 1977-79, three working groups were set - Employment of Women, Strengthening of Village Level Organization for Rural Women and Adult Education Programme. The sixth plan was the first plan to include a chapter –‘Women and Development’.

Women issues were an integral part of Indian five year plans with a changing approach. Each plan adopted policy measures to improve the status of women in India.

i. First Five Year Plan (1951-56): Welfare oriented approach. The Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB) undertook a number of welfare measures through the voluntary sector. The programmes for women welfare were implemented through Community Development Blocks. ii. Second Five Year Plan (1956-61): For better implementation of welfare schemes at grass root level ‘Mahila Mandals’ were proposed. iii. Third, Fourth, Fifth Five Year Plans (1961-74): Priority was assigned to women’s education, steps to improve maternal and child health services. In 1974, Report of the committee of status of women entitled “Gender Equality” in 1974 challenged the neutrality of development policies and emphasized on making gender Discourse a separate entity. It argued that the ‘trickle down’ and ‘welfare oriented approach’ were impacting the men and women differently and the need of the hour was to bring women into the development process. This was followed by the National Plan of Action for Women 1978 and a new pro-poor strategy was emphasized which stressed upon female education and employment. iv. Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-85): ‘Women in Development’ concept was developed. The Plan adopted a multidisciplinary approach with a three-pronged thrust on health, education and employment of women. v. Seventh Five Year Plan (1985-90): Development programmes for women were continued, with the objective of raising their economic and social status and. A very significant step taken was to identify and promote ‘beneficiary-oriented programmes’ which extended direct benefits to women. It adopted the ‘Women’s Component Plan (WCP)’ for the initiation of a mechanism for identifying and monitoring schemes that extended benefits directly to women. In 1986, the Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD), under the Central Government’s Ministry of Human Resource Development, was entrusted the responsibility of monitoring 27 beneficiary oriented schemes under various sectors which directly benefited women. vi. Eighth Five Year Plan (1992-97): It attempted to ensure that the benefits of development from different sectors did not bypass women. Women were enabled to function as equal partners and participants in the developmental process with reservation in the membership of local bodies. This approach of the Eighth Plan marks a definite shift from ‘Development’ to Empowerment’ of women. vii. Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002): Realising that financial resources are crucial for programmes/schemes for women targeted towards women’s empowerment, WCP earmarked a minimum quantum not less than 30 per cent of the funds/benefits for women under the various schemes of the ‘women-related’ ministries/departments. viii. Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-2007): It stated an objective of making “…concepts of WCP and Gender Budgeting to play a complementary role to each other, and thus ensure both preventive and post facto action in enabling women to receive their rightful share from all the women-related general development sectors.” WCP was a precursor to the adoption of Gender Budgeting. A ‘Gender Budget’ is an analytical tool to analyse the government budget and assess its gender differentiated impact, and promote programmes/schemes directly benefiting women. In the Economic Survey for 2000-01, for the first time a separate section on Gender Inequality was included in the chapter on Social Sector and the gender budget analysis of Union Budgets done by the NIPFP was incorporated in the Annual Reports of the DWCD. In the Union Budget for 2005-06, a separate statement on Gender Budgeting was included for the first time, which covered the budget allocations under 10 demands for grants. Union Budget for 2006-07 presented a Gender Budgeting statement covering 24 demands for grants (under 18 Ministries/Departments of the Central Government). Gender Budget cells have been set up in 40 Central Ministries with the primary objective of focusing on flow of funds and benefits to women and to improve the gender sensitivity of the programmes and schemes. ix. Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012): The Ministry of Women and Child Development attempted to make synergistic use of gender budget and gender mainstreaming process. The Plan explicitly mentioned Gender Budgeting and Gender Outcome assessment and underlines the importance of Gender Audits of public expenditure, programmes and policies at national, state and district levels. Each ministry/ department of both Centre and State was called upon to put in place a systematic and comprehensive monitoring and auditing mechanism for outcome assessment. Further, it proposed to extend the concept of gender based plan component to PRIs and to the 29 subjects transferred to them under the 73rd Constitutional Amendment. The MWCD, Ministry of Finance and Planning Commission stated that they would facilitate national level gender outcome assessments through spatial mapping of gender gaps and resource gaps. They would undertake gender audits of public expenditure, programmes and policies and ensure the collection of standardised, gender disaggregated data. Further, the Eleventh Five Year Plan proposed to refine the norms of WCP to help the most vulnerable as beneficiaries, particularly SC, ST women, Muslim women, single women, differently-abled, and HIV-positive women among others. x. The Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17) - The plan envisaged to- “institutionalize GB with greater visibility” by strengthening and empowering the Gender Budget Cells. To ensure this, the suggested area of work in the Charter for GBC will be included in the quarterly/half yearly/annual plan of action. The Gender Budgeting Statement has thus emerged as an important tool to show the flow of funds for women and encourages discussions on Gender Budgeting. The twelfth plan proposed to undertake various measures to promote purposive gender planning. To ensure better analysis, a review of the format and the methodology of the Gender Budget Statement will be undertaken in the Twelfth Plan. The important measures proposed are i. Gender Audit as an integral part of Gender Budgeting ii. gender perspective incorporated within the Expenditure and Performance audits conducted by CAG iii. mandatory collection of sex disaggregated data iv. Gender mainstreaming by making gender outcomes a mandatory part of the Result Framework Document v. Creation of a Gender Task Force to review the functioning of Gender Budget Cells

Measures Adopted for Women Empowerment and Poverty Alleviation and Budgetary Allocations

A. The National Commission for Women (NCW) 1992 - It was setup to safeguard the rights and interests of women. The Commission conducts investigations into the individual complaints of atrocities; sexual harassment of women at work place; conducts Parivarik / Mahila Lok Adalats, legal awareness programmes/camps; review of law and legislations etc. The Commission has also taken up the task of development of special women’s groups’ viz., widows, women in custody and mentally ill, destitute etc. The Commission appealed to all States to allot Fair Price Shops to women co-operatives or to needy women. It recommended that the Tenth Finance Commission set up an Expert Group to evolve strategies to facilitate women's political empowerment. It requested the State Governments to reserve a certain percentage of resources for women at the village level in programmes such as water supply, health services, nutrition, sanitation, etc. It reviewed the functioning of women cells in Governmental Organisations and issued guidelines to reactivate the cells and get the Government organizations to reserve 30% of the posts for women at all levels -- in the Government, Public Sector undertakings.

B. National policy for Empowerment of Women 2001 - The goal of the National Policy for the Empowerment of Women was to bring about advancement, development and empowerment of women and it emphasized on - economic and social policies for full development of women, the de jure and de facto enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedom by women on equal basis with men in all spheres, equal access to participation and decision making of women, equal access to health care, quality education at all levels and strengthening legal systems aimed at elimination of discrimination against women. To achieve this, the policy aimed at making the judicial-legal system more gender sensitive, to mainstream gender perspective into the development process, starting poverty eradication programmes specific to women, strengthening of micro credit, and social empowerment of women. All the ministries at the central and state level are now required to draw up action bound plans at their respective levels. Gender Budgeting Scheme to guide to develop an integrated approach to the Gender Budgeting Cells was set up under different departments and Ministries of the government.

C. The National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW) 2010 - It was launched with the aim to strengthen overall processes that promote all-round Development of Women. It has the mandate to ‘strengthen the inter-sector convergence’; facilitate the process of coordinating all the women’s welfare and socio-economic development programmes and providing a single window service for all programmes run by the Government for Women under aegis of various Central Ministries. The Mission has been named ‘Mission Poorna Shakti.’ The Poorna Shakti Kendra (PSK) are being be set up through which the services to grassroots women is facilitated. The National Resource Center for Women has been set up which functions as a national convergence center for all schemes and programmes for women.

2. Poverty alleviation/employment generation programmes/schemes:

The government of India has introduced many poverty alleviation/employment generation programmes/schemes targeting women especially more so after the gender perspective has gained importance. Each programme attempts to deal with the issue differently and has a unique role to play. While some programmes were clearly gender specific, some programmes separately mention that women must be treated as special beneficiaries. The table below gives a chronological study of the programmes adopted and their strategy.

Table I : Poverty Alleviation/Employment Generation Programmes/Schemes targeting women – A chronology

Year Programme Strategy Scheme of grant-in- aid for construction of new/ expansion 1973 WWH - Working of existing buildings for providing hostel facilities to Women Hostels working women with day care facility for their children. Women being assisted are -single, widowed, divorced, separated, married but whose husband or immediate family does not reside in the same city/area. Particular preference is given to women from disadvantaged sections of the society. 1982-83 DWCRA – A sub-scheme of IRDP for the women members of rural Development of families BPL to provide them self-employment on a Women and sustained basis. Starting income generating activities for a Children in Rural group of women by building the existing skills and locally Areas available resources and providing suitable marketing facilities, and finally develop self-subsistence skills. Benefits of loan subsidy of IRDP to individual member each group of women under DWCRA as well as a lump sum grant of Rs. 15,000 as ‘revolving fund’ was granted. The Scheme was merged into SGSY from April, 1999. 1987 STEP - Support to Scheme to enable women to become Training and self-employed/entrepreneurs. Intended to benefit women Employment who are in the age group of 16 years and above. The grant Programme for under the Scheme is given to an institution/ organisation Women including NGOs directly and not the States/ UTs. 1988 Mahila Samkaya Promote women empowerment through education of Programme women by - enabling women to make informed choices in areas like education, employment and health; ensuring equal participation in developmental processes ;providing skill for economic independence. 1993 Women in The Central Sector Scheme was launched on pilot basis Agriculture during the VIII Plan and was extended during the IX Plan Programme period to cover one district each of 15 States in all with a total budget outlay of Rs.4.96 crores. The Scheme envisaged to motivate, mobilize and organize women farmers. All the agricultural support services such as technology, input, extension, credit etc. to Farm Women Group registered as registered society or with Panchayat/District Agriculture Office. 1993 Mahila Samridhi For financing the women beneficiaries either directly or Yojna through SHGs. Rural women of 18 years of above age, of backward classes and living below double the poverty line , can open their saving account in the rural post office of their own area with a minimum Rs. 4 or its multiplier. On the amount not withdrawn for 1 year, 25% of the deposited amount is given to the depositor by the government in the form of encouragement amount. Such accounts opened under the scheme account opened under the scheme are provided 25% bonus with a maximum of Rs. 300 every year. 1993 Prime Minister Designed to provide self employment to more than a Rojgar Yojna million person by setting up of micro enterprises by the educated unemployed youth. The scheme specified that ‘Preference should be given to weaker sections including women’. 1993 Rajkiya Mahila A national level autonomous body under the aegis of the Kosh Ministry of Women and Child Development, for socio- economic empowerment of women. RMK provides loans to NGO-MFIs termed as Intermediary Organizations (IMO) which on-lend to SHGs of women. RMK extends micro-credit to the women in the informal sector. RMK aims to be a single window facilitator for provision of financial services with backward and forward linkages for women in the unorganized sector for sustenance of their existing employment, generation of further employment, for asset creation, for promote and support the expansion of entrepreneurship skills among women.

1995 Indra Mahila First Self Help Group based women’s empowerment Yojna programme of Ministry of WCD. Objectives were generating awareness amongst women by disseminating information and knowledge, micro-level income generating activities; and to establish convergence of various services such as literacy, health, non-formal education, rural development, entrepreneurship etc. 1997 Rural Women’s The Centrally Sponsored Scheme launched for a period of Development And five years (1997–2002) with assistance from IDA and Empowerment IFAD in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Project Bihar, Haryana, Karnataka and Gujarat with an estimated outlay of Rs.186.21 crore. The major objective empowerment of women through - (i) establishment of between 7400 and 12000 self-reliant women’s SHGs having 15-20 members each; (ii) sensitising and strengthening the institutional capacity of support agencies to pro-actively address women’s needs; (iii) developing linkages between SHGs and lending institutions; (iv) enhancing women’s access to resources. 1999 SGSY To bring the assisted poor families (Swarozgaries) above the poverty line by ensuring appreciable sustained level of income over a period of time by organizing the rural poor into SHGs. There is earmarking of 40% for women, under the scheme.

2000 Credit Guarantee Promoted by Government of India along with SIDBI to provide credit Fund Trust for Micro guarantee for collateral free loans upto Rs. 100 lakh for MSEs under and Small Enterprises its Credit Guarantee Scheme (CGS) with special concession to loans extended to women entrepreneurs i.e. the guarantee coverage is provided upto 80%.

2002 Integrated The scheme lays stress on access to micro-credit and envisages block Women’s and panchayat-level participation among women. Swayamsiddha Empowerment recasted the Indira Mahila Yojana (IMY) and was expanded to 650 Programme blocks across the country by the end of the Ninth Plan (March 31, (IWEP) or 2002). IWEP created an organisational base for women to come "Swayamsiddha" together, to analyse and fulfil their needs through existing programmes of the State and Central governments and to access institutional credit. The programme will facilitate them access to various schemes from a single window. The Scheme ended in March 2008. 2006 MNREGA/NREGA An Act to provide for the enhancement of livelihood security of the Mahatma Gandhi households in rural areas by providing at least one hundred days of National Rural guaranteed wage employment. At least one-third of beneficiaries Employment should be women Gaurantee Scheme 2008 Mahila Kisan NSFDC has launched the scheme to provide term loans up Yojana to Rs. 50,000/- at an interest rate of 5% per annum, exclusively to women beneficiaries for taking up income generating ventures in agriculture and/or mixed farming activities. BPL beneficiaries are eligible for subsidy up to Rs 10,000/- 2008 Mahila Adhikarita The National Safai Karamcharis Finance & Development Yojana Corporation provides loans at concessional interest rates to Safai Karamchari women beneficiaries and their dependent daughters who have attained the age of 18 years and above. Under the Scheme, term loans for units costing up to Rs 50,000/- is provided to eligible beneficiaries to take up any small/petty trade and sundry income generating activities. New Swarnima for National Backward Classes Finance & Development Women (Term Corporation launched the scheme exclusively for OBC Loan Scheme) women women living BPL. Loan up to Rs. 50,000 is provided at the rate of 4% per annum. 2009 Prime Minister’s Relaxation is provided to women in the following ways Employment i. For urban women beneficiaries, margin money subsidy is provided at Generation the rate of 25 per cent of the project cost while it is 35 per cent for Programme for women in rural areas. Women ii. In case of women entrepreneurs, beneficiary’s contribution is 5 per cent of the project cost iii. Bank finance in the form of loan is 95 per cent of the project cost in case of women and other weaker section borrowers 2011 NRLM /AJeevika* A restructured version of Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna (SGSY). Mandate of reaching out to 100 million rural poor in 6 lakh villages across the country by unleashing their entrepreneurial capability by creating appropriate platforms for the poor through a dedicated and sensitive support structures.

NRLM has adopted ‘demand driven’ strategy and has adopted a Participatory Identification of Poor (PIP) instead of the BPL to identify its beneficiaries. It works towards bringing at least one member (preferably a woman) from all poor families into the SHG network. The SHGs and their federations offer their members services such as savings, credit and livelihoods support. Self Help Group (SHG), of 10-20 women in general is the primary building block of the NRLM institutional design. Emphasis is on vulnerable communities such as manual scavengers, victims of human trafficking, Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).

2001 SGRY Merged the provisions of Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) and Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana (JGSY). The programme aims to provide employment and food to people in rural areas who live below the poverty line. The scheme has special provisions for women. 2011 NULM – National To reduce poverty and vulnerability of the urban poor households by Urban Livlihoods enabling them to access gainful self employment and skilled wage Mission employment opportunities, building strong grassroots level institutions of the poor. The mission aims at providing shelters equipped with essential services to the urban homeless in a phased manner. Major componetnts – ESTP, SMID, SUH, CBT. Special beneficiaries - women headed households. 2014 Trade Related Economic empowerment of women through the Entrepreneurship development of their entrepreneurial skills in non-farm Assistance and activities implemented through the Office of the Development Development Commissioner (SSI) in the Ministry of SSI. i. to provide Assistance in the form of the GOI grant of up to 30 per cent of the total project cost, as appraised by the lending agency is provided to the Non Governmental Organisations.

The gender perspective in public expenditure first came up in the report of the Committee on the status of women in 1974. The “Women Component Plan” adopted in The Ninth Plan was perhaps the first major step where the central and the state government were directed to ensure that a minimum of 30% of funds and benefits were to be directed towards women related sectors. The economic survey of 2000-2001, for the first time, paid special attention to gender inequality under a separate head. In 2004, The Department of Women and Child Development, as the nodal Department in GOI for gender budgeting, took the initiative of defining a strategic framework for gender budgeting.

Suggestions and Conclusion Improving the effectiveness of anti-poverty programmes directed towards the poorest and most disadvantaged groups of women, is primarily the responsibility of Government. A number of core priorities that need to be focused upon are employment for reducing poverty and gender inequality visibility of informal women workers in national labour force statistics and poverty assessments, a favourable policy environment through improved analysis, awareness building and participatory policy and support to organisations representing women. Some suggestions to improve the implementation and impact of various gender based poverty alleviation measures: 1. Increasing the mainstream financial services available to women. 2. Developing legal frameworks to eliminate the gender biases. 3. Increasing inclusion of poor women and give them a voice in economic bodies and financial institutions 4. Stepping up and widening the inclusion of gender perspectives into the budget. 5. Undertaking and disseminating gender analyses of economic policies. 6. Surveys for collection of data on women’s paid and unpaid work, women’s asset ownership and other sex segregated data. 7. Banking policies to include targeted credit. 8. Gender budgets should also analyse the impact of fiscal measures on women rather than merely focusing on allocation of funds. All poverty-reducing programmes do not reach women directly, due to their lack of command over productive resources, lack of information and lack of time. ‘India’s Report on the Implementation of Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action’ states that, “Changing mindset to ensure equity and empowerment of women is a challenge. A multi-pronged strategy to tackle the issue is no doubt being adopted but ‘gender gaps’ in the distribution of work, resources and benefits continue to exist.” Thus deep rooted gender inequalities continue to weaken India’s efforts in achieving the goal of inclusive development. The poverty alleviation programmes targeted towards women have a critical role to play in women empowerment.