Lucknow, September 20: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday inaugurated the ambitious campaign “Mission Shakti-5.0,” dedicated to women’s safety, respect, and self-reliance, in the Lok Bhavan auditorium.
Addressing the program, Chief Minister Yogi said that earlier, daughters were not safe. Today, they are making their own way.
He said that women’s respect is his priority, which is why there has been an unprecedented change in the status of women in the state since 2017. He said that when the government’s intentions are clear, the schemes make their own way.
At the program, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the newly established Mission Shakti centers in all 1,647 police stations across the state by pressing a button. Additionally, the Mission Shakti Center’s SOP manuals, booklets, and the “Empowered Women, Prosperous State” folder were released. Officials and ministers from all districts joined this historic moment via video conferencing.
Addressing the event, Chief Minister Yogi said that when this campaign was launched five years ago in 2020, people were skeptical about what would happen, how it would happen, and what its theme would be. However, Mission Shakti was aligned with women’s safety, respect, and self-reliance, tailoring it to women’s dignity. Today, its positive results are evident to all.
He explained that this campaign has shown women the path to safety, respect, and self-reliance, which has been rapidly advanced.
Revolutionary changes in the participation of women in the UP Police:
Chief Minister Yogi stated that since independence, the number of women police personnel was only 10,000 until 2017. Since 2017, this number has increased to over 44,000. 20% of women are being compulsorily included in every recruitment, and their timely training is being ensured. In the recent recruitment of 60,200 police personnel, over 12,000 women participated and are currently undergoing training. Yogi said that as a result of “Mission Employment” and engaging youth without discrimination, the training capacity has been increased from a mere 3,000 before 2017 to over 60,000.
Chief Minister Yogi said that women’s recruitment has been encouraged in education and other departments. Before 2017, lack of training was a major challenge. Now, training of over 60,200 police personnel is possible in Uttar Pradesh alone. Furthermore, over 16 million children are studying in the Basic Education Council, where before 2017, 70-75% of girls went to school barefoot and in old clothes. Today, two uniforms, bags, books, shoes, socks and sweaters were arranged for each child, costing Rs 1,200 per child.
Yogi, while discussing the Chief Minister’s Kanya Sumangala Scheme, said that a package of โน25,000 is provided from the birth of a daughter until graduation. This includes โน5,000 at birth, โน2,000 at one year (after vaccination), โน3,000 in first and sixth grades, โน5,000 in ninth grade, and โน7,000 upon passing 12th grade. More than 2.6 million daughters are directly benefiting from this scheme. Furthermore, under the Chief Minister’s Mass Marriage Scheme, each daughter is provided with โน1 lakh assistance. Previously, the scheme was based on appearance, but now it is available without discrimination. These schemes have created history in the direction of women’s empowerment.
Chief Minister stated that central and state government schemes, including Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Matru Vandana, the Fit India Movement, the Swachh Bharat Mission, and the Ujjwala Yojana, have freed women from the smoke of the stove. Healthy women empower families.
He added that schemes like Ayushman Bharat (500 million beneficiaries) and free rations for 800 million people are linked to women’s dignity. He noted that women even mortgage their jewelry during illness, so these schemes are linked to their dignity. Uttar Pradesh added more than 10 million women to 30 million rural land records and provided housing to 6 million poor people. He added that a women-centric approach is being adopted in every welfare scheme in the state today.
Yogi said that through the Banking Correspondence Sakhi scheme, launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 40,000 women are transacting thousands of crores of rupees and earning profits. The Nutrition Mission was previously rife with contractor corruption, but now 60,000 women are earning โน8,000 per month from 204 take-home ration plants, benefiting 20 million women.
CM Yogi said that schemes with clear intentions find their way. Previously, daughters’ safety was threatened. Their employment was also robbed. Even if the government did create a plan for this, the Nutrition Mission is an example of how these schemes were robbed. The type of plunder that occurred in employment and the widespread rigging of jobs are examples of this.
Emphasizing women’s safety, Yogi said that if we consider cases from January 1, 2024, to 2024-25 alone, 12,271 criminals were punished in 9,513 cases, 12 were sentenced to death, 987 to life imprisonment, and 3,455 were sentenced to more than 10 years. The Chief Minister, citing an incident in Bareilly, said that outside criminals tried to breach women’s security, but when police took action, they shouted, “I came to Uttar Pradesh by mistake, I won’t do it again.” This is a warning to criminals.
CM Yogi informed about the ‘Empowered Women, Prosperous State’ folder under Mission Shakti and the helplines related to women’s safety (1090, 181, 112, 1930, 1076, 102, 101, 108, 1098). He said that Mission Shakti centers and women beat officers will be deployed in every police station. A bike rally will be held on September 21st and security will be increased in temples during Navratri. Folders will be distributed in schools and colleges.
He said that this mission will run for one month and then will be extended for three months. There will be a program to honor successful personnel and women. He asked all departments to ensure coordination and accountability.
He also instructed to pay special attention to security during Navratri and festivals.
Present on the occasion were both Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, Women Welfare and Child Development Minister Baby Rani Maurya, Mayor Sushma Kharwal, Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar, Principal Secretary Home Sanjay Prasad, MLC Dr. Mahendra Singh, Director General of Police Rajiv Krishna, along with several administrative and police officers and other dignitaries.