Throughout Indian history, from the time of Sita, the consort of Lord Rama, there have been women who have occupied a special place in society. Laxmibai, Razia Sultan and Meerabai are names that now belong to history. From contemporary times, women who have left their imprint include Mrs. Vijayalaxmi Pandit, the first women president of the United Nations, Mrs. Indira Gandhi and Mother Teresa, who was born in Albania but won the Nobel Prize as an Indian missionary who spread the message of love and peace among the neglected. In the field of sports, many Indian women have won laurels in international events.
But there is no denying the fact that the lot of women in general needs to be improved. For this reason, women are taking the centre stage of planning so that they come to occupy their rightful place in the development process. Many innovative programmes have been launched for generating employment, improving income and creating awareness among women. The ultimate goal is to make women economically independent and selfreliant.
Some of these schemes, which go back to the 1960s and 1970s, lay emphasis on upgrading training and skills of women and opening more job opportunities for them. In 1992, the National Commission for Women was set up to investigate and review matters relating to safeguards for women and also to act as an agency for redressal of their grievances. Two important schemes launched in 1993 were Mahila Rashtriya Kosh, the women's national fund, to meet the credit needs of women, and Mahila Samridhi Yojna to inculcate the habit of thrift among rural women. The task of creating a sense of awareness, particularly among the rural women, to enable them to become active participants in the process of social transformation and regeneration has been entrusted to the Indira Mahila Yojna.
India has a strong womens' movement now and the country is well represented in all international fora for women. At the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, India was well represented and the government had prepared itself for the event by getting reports from 14 core groups covering all important activities of women's development.
In the world of sports and glamour also Indian women have begun to leave a mark. K. Malleswari and Kunjarani Devi are the two topmost weightlifters in the world. The year 1994-95 saw two Indians, Susmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai, bag the Miss Universe and Miss World titles, a unique double for any country. The 1997 Miss World crown was bagged by another Indian, Diana Hayden.
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