Thursday, February 7, 2019

Self Help Group and Farmer Group participated in the National conference on “Women Empowerment through Agro-entrepreneurship for Livelihood Security” at SKUAST, Jammu on 7th & 8th February. The objective of the 2-day conference was to augment the livelihood of rural women through agri-based entrepreneurship.
The stalls exhibited by PRAGATI SHG and NISHA FARM GROUP under the aegis of CSSS received tremendous appreciation from Dr. N S Rathore, Deputy Director General (DDG) ICAR who was the Chief Guest of the Conference. Ms. Veena Arora, Brand Ambassador of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao was also present on the ocassion. The exhibition also witnessed people from all walks of life including dignitaries, officials from various departments, researchers, farmers, entrepreneurs and students from the University.
While speaking to the women group, Ms. Veena Arora said, “Women empowerment has five components namely gender equality, education, health, economic and political participation while out of all these, economic empowerment has relatively more relevance as it will enable women take initiatives at their own because of right over financial resources.” She also emphasized that the empowerment / autonomy of women and the improvement of women’s social, economic, political status is essential for the achievement of both transparent / accountable government and sustainable development in all areas of life.
The Conference acknowledged the work of CSSS in developing the entrepreneurial abilities of the women Pragati SHG received much applause for the innovative ways of augmenting livelihood through cushions of different sizes and shapes. The SHG was honoured with the “Best Entrepreneur” award by the organizing committee. The Chief Guest encouraged the groups to take similar initiative in future as well. Notably, this was the 15th stall exhibited by PRAGATI SHG and second award received in the category of ‘best entrepreneur’.