Latest news with #Women
New Indian Express
4 hours ago
- Business
- New Indian Express
Around 15,000 register for Gruha Lakshmi every month, says Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar
BENGALURU: Around 15,000 new beneficiaries are being added to the Gruha Lakshmi scheme every month, said Women and Child Development Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar on Thursday. Under the scheme, the state government gives Rs 2,000 to the women heads of beneficiary households a month. Adding around 15,000 new beneficiaries every month is likely to be a big burden on the government as that would require additional funding for the scheme. Of the five guarantees, Gruha Lakshmi gets more fund allocation as there are over 1.25 crore registered beneficiaries. According to sources from the department, Rs 2,540 crore is spent monthly on an average under the scheme. Sources, however, said even through there are additional registrations every month, all of them might not get the benefit as verification will have to be conducted. The minister said around 10,000 to 15,000 new beneficiaries are being registered under the guarantee. The government has not revised the scheme and there have been no issues with disbursement of the amount, Hebbalkar clarified. The minister said they have released money till April. Earlier, the department used to disburse money directly, but now it is done through zilla and taluk panchayats, she said. Hebbalkar noted that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is concerned about the scheme. 'As per guidelines from the Union government, money has to be disbursed through zilla and taluk panchayats. This might be causing delay in disbursement,'' she said.
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Business Standard
8 hours ago
- Business
- Business Standard
UK govt to inject $1.2 bn for hosting sports events, upgrading facilities
British sport is getting a cash injection of more than 900 million pounds ($1.2 billion) from the government to help with the staging of big events such as the men's European Championship soccer tournament and Grand Departs in the Tour de France. The money will also be used to help deliver a bid by soccer federations in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to host the Women's World Cup in 2035, the government said Thursday in announcing the funding commitment. While more than 400 million pounds ($540 million) will go toward investment in new and upgraded grassroots facilities around Britain, the rest of the money will be spent on what the government described as major sporting events. They include the men's Euros in 2028, staged alongside Ireland, as well as the Grand Departs of the Tour de France in men's and women's cycling in 2027 and the European Athletics Championships in 2026. Together, this strategic investment in sport will help to deliver on the government's mission to kickstart economic growth by creating jobs, driving regional prosperity and encouraging visitors to the UK, the government said in a statement. It is also designed to reduce barriers to opportunity, bring communities together through shared national moments and showcase the best of the UK to the world.
Fox Sports
12 hours ago
- Business
- Fox Sports
British sports get $1.2B from government to help host major events
Associated Press LONDON (AP) — British sport is getting a cash injection of more than 900 million pounds ($1.2 billion) from the government to help with the staging of big events such as the men's European Championship soccer tournament and Grand Departs in the Tour de France. The money will also be used to help deliver a bid by soccer federations in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to host the Women's World Cup in 2035, the government said Thursday in announcing the funding commitment. While more than 400 million pounds ($540 million) will go toward investment in new and upgraded grassroots facilities around Britain, the rest of the money will be spent on what the government described as 'major sporting events.' They include the men's Euros in 2028, staged alongside Ireland, as well as the Grand Departs of the Tour de France in men's and women's cycling in 2027 and the European Athletics Championships in 2026. 'Together, this strategic investment in sport will help to deliver on the government's mission to kickstart economic growth by creating jobs, driving regional prosperity and encouraging visitors to the UK,' the government said in a statement. 'It is also designed to reduce barriers to opportunity, bring communities together through shared national moments and showcase the best of the UK to the world.' ___ AP sports: recommended in this topic
Morocco World
15 hours ago
- Business
- Morocco World
BAM, EBRD and IFC Partner to Boost Women Entrepreneurship in Morocco
Marrakech – Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) signed a Declaration of Intent on Thursday to launch the WE Finance Code initiative. This aims to improve access to financing for very small, small, and medium enterprises (VSMEs) led by women in Morocco. The initiative, which aligns with BAM's ambition to promote financial inclusion and women's economic empowerment, builds on the long-standing collaboration between the three institutions. It capitalizes on the significant progress made by BAM in collecting and analyzing gender-specific data in the financial sector. The WE Finance Code seeks to strengthen the capacity of financial service providers to meet the needs of this important segment of the Moroccan economy by providing targeted technical support. The convention aims to improve access to financing for women-led VSMEs while providing this technical assistance. The signing ceremony took place in the presence of Mark Bowman, EBRD Vice-President, Mark Davis, EBRD Director General for the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) region, and several senior officials from EBRD and BAM. Abderrahim Bouazza, BAM Director General, said that 'the launch of the WE Finance Code reflects our firm commitment to women's financial inclusion in Morocco.' He also expressed his willingness to strengthen productive cooperation with EBRD, IFC, international institutions, and other stakeholders to maximize the positive impact of this initiative and achieve its objectives. Mark Bowman praised 'Bank Al-Maghrib's strong commitment to promoting financial inclusion, particularly by facilitating access to financing for women-led VSMEs.' He reaffirmed 'the EBRD's commitment to supporting Bank Al-Maghrib's initiatives through the implementation of the WE Finance Code. Bank Al-Maghrib is thus positioning itself as a key multilateral player in reducing the gender gap in access to finance in Morocco.' The initiative will provide technical support to strengthen the North African country's efforts in women's economic empowerment. BAM intends to leverage the technical assistance provided by EBRD and IFC under this initiative to build the capacity of Moroccan financial service providers and relevant entities, in coordination with the Ministry of Economy and Finance and other concerned public bodies. This technical assistance aims to promote women's financial inclusion and develop financial and non-financial products and services tailored to their needs. The Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) is a global multi-stakeholder partnership comprising 14 governments, 8 multilateral development banks, and other public and private stakeholders. It is hosted by the World Bank Group. The EBRD is implementing the Code in Egypt and Morocco and will mobilize financing to support women's entrepreneurship, with a view to promoting gender equality, removing gender-related barriers, and reducing gaps in access to finance for women entrepreneurs. The partnership comes as Morocco, alongside Spain and Portugal, prepares to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup with high standards of governance, sustainability, and inclusion. EBRD, which has invested over €5 billion in Morocco to date, sees the event as a catalyst to accelerate climate transition and strengthen social cohesion in the country. EBRD had previously supported Agadir in issuing Morocco's first municipal green bond under the Green Cities program. The bank also assists Morocco in implementing the State Ownership Policy adopted in December 2024 to clarify mandates, enhance transparency, and attract private investment in major infrastructure projects. The EBRD has been active in Morocco since 2012 and has supported a wide range of financial, digital, and green initiatives across the country. In February, BAM and EBRD signed an agreement with a consortium of Korean institutions to bolster Morocco's fintech ecosystem through the 'Boosting Morocco's Regulatory Fintech Ecosystem' technical assistance program. This coincided with the establishment of the Morocco Fintech Center association to support startups and companies in the sector. Tags: Bank Al-MaghribEBRDIFCmoroccan women entrepreneurs
The Hindu
17 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Madurai women staged the first recorded strike in the cotton mills of South India
In the 1860s, Madurai began embracing industrialisation. Weaving industries started flourishing in and around the region. By 1892, the famed Madura Mills, a British-owned cotton spinning mill, was established in the temple town. It began with 1,760 workers, and the number eventually grew to 4,000. About 28 years later, nearly 750 women workers went on a strike against patriarchal practices at the workplace. This strike, from April 14 to June 10, 1920, was the first recorded strike in the cotton mills of South India. Contemporary newspapers described it as an action in defence of women's honour. The Hindu, on April 13, 1920, reported a letter by George Joseph, president of the Madura Labour Union, addressed to the Labour Commissioner. 'The repeated complaints against maistri Guruswami Naidu for obstructing the formation of a women's labour union, bullying women, using objectionable language, and refusing to address their grievances led to the strike,' he wrote. 'Policy violated' In another letter dated April 30, Joseph said the mill's opposition to the formation of a union contravened the policy of the Madras government, which had appointed a Commissioner of Labour to support — and not suppress — labour unions. In some ways, this mirrored the recent crisis at the Samsung India unit near Chennai, where workers demanded the right to form and register their union. According to articles published in The Hindu, there were also attacks on workers attempting to unionise. Requesting protection for the protesters, Joseph wrote, 'The government should interfere and prevent the management from inflicting injury on the labourers and the public by threatening to strangle the labour movement in Madura Mills.' 'The abuses and taunts faced by the women workers at the hands of supervisors and the administration were directly linked to their efforts to form a cangam (organisation),' notes researcher and academic M.V. Shobana Warrier in her work Women, Union, and the Strike Against Sexual Harassment in Colonial Madurai, 1920. She highlights the role of Mrs. George Joseph, wife of a Kerala-based lawyer, who supported the women workers locally. In a letter to the editor of Madras Mail, George Joseph pointed out that the dismissal of over 67 workers by the mill manager, Gillespie, under the pretext of their being 'undesirable', was in fact due to their demand for forming a union. The original demand that prompted the strike was for the dismissal of the offending maistri. In one of its editorials, The Hindu hailed the strike as a pioneering event in Indian history, in which women's rights and workers' rights merged in a collective demand for dignity at workplace. Ms. Warrier states that through their brave action, the women disrupted the dominant narrative in labour history that portrayed female workers as docile and invisible. 'The instance demonstrates how women played an active, assertive, and militant role in trade union activity in the colonial Madras Presidency, even when both trade unionism and nationalist politics were in their infancy,' she argues. The cotton mill industry, which first emerged in Madras and Madurai, grew around regions of cotton cultivation owing to easy access to raw materials and cheap labour. This growth also facilitated the entry of women workers in large numbers. 'The influx of women workers from nearby villages led to reconfiguration of the workplace to accommodate their needs — not due to managerial benevolence, but as a result of grassroots pressure and top-down reform,' Ms. Warrier notes. K. Swaminathan, former general secretary of the South Zone Insurance Employees' Federation and member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Tamil Nadu executive committee, says such a historic labour movement is rare. 'The protest was also to demand a safe and protective workplace. Though we now have Internal Complaints Committees under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, a retrospective understanding of such events could have resulted in better policies,' he adds. Though led by women, the protest intersected with the broader labour rights movement. The formation of the Communist Party and the All India Trade Union Congress in 1920 further strengthened the demand for workers' rights, Ms. Warrier observes. Seamless transition Writings in journals like Stri Dharma — established around 1918 by the Women's Indian Association in Madras — along with direct activism, expanded the engagement with women workers beyond the mill gates. Ms. Warrier argues Madurai district, known for its sungudi (tie-and-dye work), offered women a relatively seamless transition from home-based craft to factory work. As the mills were often established close to their villages, there was no need for dislocation. By the early 20th Century, cotton mills in the region employed a significant number of women and children, as their rudimentary technologies allowed agrarian labourers to transition to mill work without training. 'At its peak, the share of women in the cotton textile industry workforce in the region exceeded one-fourth,' Ms. Warrier records.
