Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Mar 8: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said today that, for the last three years consecutively, IAS/Civil Services toppers have been women and for the last few years, at least three to four out of first six IAS / Civil Services toppers are invariably women. In 2017, he said, it was Nandini from Karnataka who topped the IAS/ Civil Services Exam while in 2016, it was Tina Dabi from Haryana and in 2015, Ira Sehgal from Delhi.
Speaking at the International Women’s Day programmed organized by Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) , Dr Jitendra Singh cited figures and statistics to state that there is a huge demographic change in the Indian scenario viz-a-viz women and therefore, it could be unfair to look at the 21st century woman through the prism of 20th century. He said, there is an increasing empowerment of women both in the urban and rural areas, which is quite obvious and the challenge in the years to come would not be so much as to empower the Indian woman, but the real challenge would be, how best to optimally utilize the capacities and potentials of this empowered woman of New India.
In a well-connected and well-informed uni-polar society of today, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the urge to realize aspirations is common to all the youth regardless of their gender and several of the earlier notions have become irrelevant while women in large numbers have taken to professions which were earlier considered mainly the male domain. For example, he said, in the prestigious IIT-JEE exam qualifying for IIT and NIT, the number of women candidates is progressively increasing every year and coming close to be equal to their male counterparts. Similarly, among the medico-girls, the preferred streams of profession are no longer only Gynecology or at the most Pediatrics, but women are dominating in every super-specialty of Medicine. So is also the case, he said, with women taking over as pilots in fighter aircrafts and CEOs of some of the leading business houses.
Giving credit to Prime Minister Modi, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the distinct difference made by the Modi Government is that it has approached the women related issues with an extreme degree of sensitivity and realism. In this regard, he quoted programmes like building of female toilets across the country, Ujjwala, Give it Up, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Sukanya, etc. as evidence of PM’s approach of commitment coupled with sensitivity.
Union Secretary DoPT C. Chandramouli, famous Bharata Natyam dancer Rama Vaidyanathan and DG Doordarshan, Supriya Sahu also spoke on the occasion.
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