Centre committed to empowering women, says Harsh Vardhan

New Delhi : Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan on Sunday tweeted that the Department of Science and Technology is furthering Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'women-led India' through Vigyan Jyoti.

On the National Girl Child Day, the Minister listed the achievements and initiatives of the government in empowering the girl child in a series of tweets.

"To attract 'DeshKiBeti' into STEM fields, we have started Vigyan Jyoti - School Component which is adding value in STEM education at the school level. Around 1,400 women scientists have benefited in the last 3 years under our 'Women Scientists Scheme. It provides career opportunities for pursuing research in frontier areas of Science & Engineering, especially to those women researchers who had a break in career," tweeted Dr Harsh Vardhan.

Vigyan Jyoti, a programme launched by DST in 2019 is aimed at promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) learning among girl students and to inspire them towards STEM careers by creating a level-playing field for meritorious girls from grades 9 to 12 to pursue STEM in their higher education, especially from the top colleges in the areas where girls are hugely underrepresented.

Another scheme that found mention in the Minister's tweet was KIRAN (Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through Nurturing) scheme in which he said that more than 2,200 women scientists and technologists in the last five years and current year have been working to build a strong 'AtmaNirbharBharat'.

"DST took a special initiative, "CURIE" to support women universities for improving R&D infrastructure and enhance research facilities," tweeted the Minister.

The government, in 2008 declared January 24 to be celebrated as the National Girl Child Day' every year with the objective of raising the consciousness of the society towards the girl child so that she can be valued and respected.