President Droupadi Murmu lauded the progress made by Kerala in empowerment of women

President Droupadi Murmu on Friday lauded the progress made by Kerala in empowerment of women, saying it has reflected in the state’s better human development index.

Inaugurating the silver jubilee celebration of Kudumbhashree, a successful self-help group of women, in the state capital, the President praised the state’s sex ratio and high literacy rate. She said the measures taken for maternal health and preventing child mortality were best in the country.

“I believe when women are given important roles it results in overall betterment of that society. In Kerala women have been educated and empowered, which reflects in the state’s better performance on several human development indices,” she said. This is the President’s first visit to the state after assuming the highest office of the country.

The President also paid rich tributes to former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee who inaugurated the first meeting of Kudumbashree in 1998. “In keeping with the lofty tradition of women empowerment Kudumbashree has become one of the largest women self-help networks in the world,” she said, adding the cosmopolitan outlook the people of the state was worth emulating.

A successful women self-help group ,Kudumbashree has created a sustainable option for women, especially from under-privileged sections. Earlier Kudumbasree was identified with the Left but now all parties have embraced the model poverty eradication progrmme, which has been replicated by many states including Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. In last local body polls in the state, more than half of women elected members were associated with Kudumbashree, which claimed that it has more than 4 million members.