If patriarchy stopped women from achieving what they want in India, how come Indira Gandhi made it as prime minister, asked Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

She met the students of CMS Business School here on Saturday and discussed various measures undertaken by the Centre to support innovation as well as the government schemes available for young people, including the 1 crore internships for the ‘unemployable youth’ in the age group of 21 to 24.

Replying to a question about women empowerment, Ms Sitharaman insisted that patriarchy is a concept invented by the Left.

“Don’t get carried away by fantastic jargon. If you stand up for yourself and speak logically, patriarchy will not stop you from achieving your dreams,” she advised the women in the audience.

However, she admitted that women are not facilitated adequately and that more facilitation is needed.

Answering a question about the prospects of innovators in India, the finance minister said the Narendra Modi government is creating an environment that is conducive to innovators.

“We do not just support innovation by bringing out policies,” she said, adding that the Indian government is doing its best to ensure that such innovations find markets too.

As an example, she cited the support mechanism that is available for MSMEs. According to her, they are given priority in government procurements.

Ms Sitharaman said 40 per cent of all government procurements is coming from MSMEs. “That is why we have more than 2 lakh startups today in India and more than 130 have become unicorns. The opportunity is immense but is not fully utilised,” she said.

It is the same with digital banking transformation that is happening in India, she added.

According to her, opportunities were created for the common people through Jan Dhan Yojana.

“India’s approach to spreading digital networks was funded by the government, while many other countries went through private players, resulting in some nominal charges somewhere. Because of this, even micro-level users also access digital banking without having to pay for it,” Ms Sitharaman said, and added that this will only grow in the future.

“Therefore, technology will have to be continuously updated so that we don’t become redundant.” She also explained the concept of the ‘Fund of Funds’ offered by the Small Industries Development Bank of India, which is enabled by the Central government by infusing Rs 10,000 crore to help small businesses and innovative ideas needing support.

“Private equity funds are also backing this because we have given them concessions,” she added.

As for the latest government scheme offering one crore internships to the unemployable, Ms Sitharaman urged the students present to help get the target audience on to the platform so that more youth can become skilled. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Denied bail by the Karnataka High Court in two rape cases, former MP Prajwal Revanna has approached the Supreme Court, which will hear his petition on Monday.

On October 21, the High Court had denied bail to Revanna, who is the grandson of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda and nephew of Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy, in two cases of rape and a case of recording a video of sexual harassment. He faces another case of rape as well. 

The cases were filed after several women alleged in April that the then MP had forced him into sexual acts which were then filmed. 

Lawyers representing Revanna have approached the Supreme Court challenging the High Court’s denial of bail and the hearing has been scheduled for Monday.

Videos showing Prajwal Revanna sexually assaulting multiple women had begun surfacing on April 23, three days before polling in the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, from where he was a Janata Dal Secular (JDS) candidate. As the row escalated, he left for Germany on April 27, a day after voting took place. 

An SIT was formed to investigate the charges and a Blue Corner notice was also issued to help trace the MP, but he remained elusive. Finally, after appeals and a warning from Mr Gowda and Mr Kumaraswamy, the JDS leader returned to India and was arrested in the early hours of May 31.

He lost the election in Hassan, results for which were declared on June 4, by a margin of over 40,000 votes. He was also suspended from the JDS. 

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