This week sees the release of another compilation of Indian women business owners. The highlight of the week is Roshni Nadar Malhotra becoming India's Richest Lady for the Second Year in a Row. Roshni Nadar's overall net worth as of December 31st, 2021, was estimated to be Rs 84,330 crore by the third edition of the "Kotak Private Banking Hurun - Leading Wealthy Women List." This week also saw the opening of Puducherry's first female engineering college, the allocation of around Rs 9.5 crore under the 'Sports for Women,' the inclusion of Neha Narkhede of Confluent to Hurun's list of the Ten Richest Indian Women, and many other developments. In addition to these, we have covered a number of additional stories about women's empowerment. Learn about some of the most important strides taken this week toward women's empowerment by reading on.
Puducherry Obtains Its First Female Engineering College
As the first women's engineering college opens in the Union Territory (UT), women's education will advance. In Lawspet, Puducherry, the current Women's Polytechnic College has been transformed into an engineering college.
A government announcement states that the college will provide BTech programmes with an enrollment of 60 students each in Architectural Assistantship, Computer Science and Engineering, Electronics and Communication, and Electrical and Electronics Engineering. With the same inflow, BCom will be included as well. CENTAC would launch admissions for the academic year 2022–2023 (Centralised Admission Committee). For the UT, this is their third engineering college.
After enrollment began to decline gradually, the government made the decision to renovate the polytechnic college. In the most recent academic year, which had a total enrollment of 190 students, only 50 applicants were accepted. The college should have had 570 students enrolled, however there are currently only 200.
Niine: An Indian Personal Hygiene Company Promoting Women's Menstrual Dignity
After the Covid-19 pandemic tightened its grip on India in 2020, causing a lockdown, the government took action to make sure that every resident had access to necessities. Nevertheless, sanitary napkins, a necessary item, were left off the list. As a result, Niine, a manufacturer of high-quality yet reasonably priced menstruation and personal hygiene products, launched an innovative campaign to advocate for the inclusion of sanitary napkins on the list of necessities. The government updated its list as a result of the campaign. Amar Tulsiyan, the founder and CEO of Niine Personal Hygiene, made a deliberate effort to fight for the inclusion of sanitary napkins in the list.
Working for this cause was nothing new for Tulisiyan. Even before he introduced the Niine brand, he had started the Niine movement in 2016. "I was sensitized about the issue of menstrual hygiene because of all the women who have been a part of my life. Even today, a vast majority of the women in India do not have access to affordable menstrual hygiene products. Let alone access, there is an acute lack of awareness around it, even among women. When you try to start a conversation around it, the societal taboos come in between. I felt strongly that I had to do something about it, and this is the reason I started the Niine movement," said Tulsiyan.
Khelo India: Approximately Rs 9.5 crore is released under the 'Sports for Women'
According to Union Minister Anurag Thakur, funds have been given under the "Sports for Women" section of the Khelo India Scheme to boost women's engagement in sports starting in 2020.
Tuesday's written Lok Sabha reply from Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Thakur included the following information: "All schemes of the Department of Sports are gender neutral and cater to all sportspersons equally. However, one of the components of the Khelo India Scheme "Sports for Women" is specifically dedicated towards the promotion of sports among women."
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports said in a statement on Tuesday that under this component, Women's Leagues in various disciplines are run in cooperation with the National Sports Federations in order to increase the participation of women in sport, use the league as a platform for talent identification, and provide competition exposure to women athletes of the different age groups.
Roshni Nadar Malhotra is the Richest Lady in India for the Second Year in a Row
The title of richest woman in India has been held by Roshni Nadar Malhotra, the chairperson of HCL Technologies, for the second consecutive year. According to the third edition of the "Kotak Private Banking Hurun - Leading Wealthy Women List," Roshni Nadar's total net worth as of December 31st, 2021, was Rs 84,330 crore. Falguni Nayar, the owner of Nykaa, came in second, surpassing Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon, with a combined wealth of Rs 57,520 crore. Falguni Nayar ranks as the tenth-richest self-made woman in the world.
According to the report, the wealth of the Hurun list's featured women nearly tripled in the previous year. The combined wealth of the top 100 people on the list increased by 53% from Rs 2.7 lakh crore in 2020 to Rs 4.16 lakh crore in 2019. In addition, the total wealth created by women was responsible for 2% of India's nominal GDP. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the CEO of Biocon, came in third on the list of the top 10 richest Indian women, with a total wealth of Rs 29,030 crore, behind Divi's Laboratories' Nilima Motaparti. The net worth of Motaparti was put at Rs 28,180 crore.
Neha Narkhede Of Confluent Joins Hurun's List of the Ten Richest Indian Women
The richest newcomer to the list of India's wealthiest women is Neha Narkhede, co-founder of the data streaming technology company Confluent.
The 38-year-old, whose net worth is believed to be Rs 13,380 crore, was ranked eighth on the Leading Wealthy Women 2021 list compiled by research firm Hurun, one spot ahead of Vandana Lal of Dr Lal PathLabs, the only other newcomer among the top 10.
Confluent saw a 25% increase in June 2021 on the Nasdaq, valuing the company at US $11.4 billion. Before starting Confluent, Narkhede was a software developer at LinkedIn, where she made contributions to the creation of Apache Kafka, an open-source messaging system created to manage the networking site's massive data input.
PV Sindhu named India's flagbearer at Commonwealth Games 2022
PV Sindhu, an Olympic medallist in badminton, was officially chosen on to carry the Indian flag during the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony. According to a representative of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), Sindhu will carry the Indian team's flag during the opening ceremony. In addition, PV Sindhu carried the flag at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Notably, 215 athletes from India will compete at the Commonwealth Games, and 164 athletes will compete in the opening ceremony, which will be conducted on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the personal coach of Olympic bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain, Sandhya Gurung, has moved into the head coach Bhaskar Bhatt's room at the Commonwealth Games Village, according to a report from news agency. Gurung has moved into Bhatt's room in the Village while Bhatt has gone into a neighbouring hotel. Bhatt said, "I have shifted to a hotel that is a 10-minute walk from the Village.
Alka Saraogi, Renowned Hindi Writer, receives the Dayawati Modi Stree Shakti Samman
STREE SHAKTI MAHOTSAVA honoured the contributions of women on India's 75th anniversary of independence. In addition to notable Hindi author Chitra Mudgal and other dignitaries, Chief Guest Hon. Dr. Karan Singh and eminent writer Alka Saraogi were present on this occasion.
Alka Saraogi, a renowned Hindi author, has won the twenty-first Dayawati Modi Stree Shakti Samman (instituted in 1998) prize. Dr. Karan Singh launched her edited book, "Terah Halfaname," which is a collection of short stories by well-known women writers of Independent India.
Anita Desai, Mahashweta Devi, Qurratulain Hyder, Indra Goswami, Ismat Chugtai, Krishna Sobti, Chitra Mudgal, Vishwapriya Iyengar, Anjali Khandwala, Kamla Das, T. Janki Rani, Urmila Pawar, and Vedihi are among the women whose tales are given here for the first time in Hindi.
