LIC’s ‘Bima Sakhi Yojana’ empowering 35,000 women to be launched by PM in Panipat

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to Panipat, Haryana on Monday, is set to inaugurate the ‘Bima Sakhi Yojana’ by the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), a scheme aimed at training and financially empowering women aged 18-70 years who have passed class 10th. The ‘Bima Sakhi Yojana’ will train one lakh women across India as LIC agents, including 8,000 from Haryana.

These women will receive a monthly stipend of Rs 7,000 in the first year, Rs 6,000 in the second, and Rs 5,000 in the third, while promoting financial literacy and insurance awareness. Under this programme, women will have the opportunity to become insurance agents (Bima Sakhi).The objective of the Bima Sakhi Yojana is to provide rural women with job opportunities and financial assistance. This visit holds special significance as PM Modi had earlier launched the iconic ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign in Panipat in 2015.

PM Modi will also lay the foundation stone for the main campus of Maharana Pratap Horticultural University at Karnal. With the event set to take place in Sector 13/17 of the textile city, Panipat has been adorned with over 5,000 hoardings welcoming the Prime Minister. Thousands of women from across Haryana are expected to participate in this grand event. On January 22, 2015, PM Modi had launched the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ scheme from Panipat to save girl children and improve the skewed sex ratio, especially in the state.

The slogan 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' translates to ‘Save the girl child, educate the girl child’. The scheme aims to educate citizens against gender bias and improve the efficacy of welfare services for girls. It was launched with an initial funding of Rs 100 crore. Aligned with the government’s vision of empowering women for a developed India (Viksit Bharat), the event is expected to feature Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, and other ministers from both the central and state governments.