India is changing, and so are its women: FM Sitharaman in US

New Delhi, April 22 (IANS) As the Indian government launches several measures to enhance women's safety, health and financial independence, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, during her address at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in the US, said that India is changing, and so are Indian women.

For working women, maternity leaves have been increased to six months on the insistence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, FM Sitharaman told the gathering.

"Two years ago, we came up with a scheme where we increased interest rates on deposits made by women to 7.5 per cent to encourage women to keep their savings in banks rather than keeping that as cash at homes," she mentioned during her keynote address, titled 'Laying the foundations for a developed India #ViksitBharat by 2047'.

FM Sitharaman further stated that property registration in the name of women has tax concessions, and under the Poshan Scheme, the nutritional needs of pregnant women and lactating mothers are being met.

"Under PM Awas Yojana, registration of pucca houses is done either in the name of a woman or jointly with that of a male member," the Union Minister highlighted.

Earlier, the minister met Thomas Kurian, Chief Executive Officer of Google Cloud and his team in San Francisco. They discussed the transformative evolution of India's digital infrastructure under the Digital India initiative in recent years, positioning the country as a global leader in digital adoption.

Kurian acknowledged and appreciated India's AI Mission, and the trajectory India is taking under the leadership of PM Modi and called for connecting India to the world via land and sea cables.

He said that Google Cloud aims to operate entirely on carbon-free energy at its data centres and offices worldwide by 2030 and spoke about the upcoming investment strategy that the group is working on for India.

The Finance Minister encouraged them to explore local linkages in India for territorial collaboration and build tech for India and the world as part of the 'Make In India' initiative.

--IANS

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