Panipat: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday formally unveiled the LIC Bima Sakhi Yojana, aimed at empowering women with financial awareness and making them insurance agents. This initiative of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is designed to empower women aged 18-70 years, who are Class X pass. The women will receive specialized training and a stipend for the first three years to promote financial literacy and insurance awareness. After training, they can serve as LIC agents and the graduate Bima Sakhis would have the opportunity to qualify for being considered for Development Officer roles in LIC. Prime Minister also ceremonially distributed appointment Certificates to prospective Bima Sakhis. He linked PM Jan Dhan Yojana to the last-mile delivery of services directly to the bank accounts of all, including the women, cutting across multiple windows. "I congratulate all the sisters of the country. A few years ago, I had the privilege of starting the 'Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' campaign from Panipat. It had a positive impact not only in Haryana but in the entire country. Now, after 10 years, 'Bima Sakhi Yojana' has been started for sisters and daughters from this land of Panipat. Our Panipat has become a symbol of women's power," the PM said at the event in Panipat. This initiative will boost India's 'Insurance for All' mission, he added. The Insurance sector regulator Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) has committed to achieving saturation by 2047. "To empower women, it is very important that they get ample opportunities to move forward and every obstacle in their way is removed," the prime minister added. He also lauded all the women who are under some or the other self-help groups. During the programme, the Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone of the Main campus of Maharana Pratap Horticultural University, Karnal. The main campus and six regional research stations, spread over 495 acres, will be established at a cost of over Rs 700 crore. The University will have one College of Horticulture for Graduate and Post-Graduate studies and five schools covering 10 horticulture disciplines. It will work towards crop diversification and world-class research for the development of horticulture technologies.
