A “Half of India” Movement

Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s first woman finance minister, was visiting Silicon Valley. After a good speech, an American visitor from the audience got up, complimented her on her speech but said that he needed to ask one question: Why did the women of India not participate more in the economy of India? The Minister replied that more and more women were being appointed to boards of  companies in India and that this measure would be strengthened and augmented. Actually, this has been the policy of the government for some years but my opinion, it is a feeble measure.
   An article on the Internet recently reported how in his book” From Third  World to First” Lee Kuan Yew relates how a soft drink manufacturer (in Singapore) suggested to him that tourism could provide low cost, high employment growth. It was labour intensive, needing cooks, maids, waiters, laundrymen, dry cleaners, tour guides, drivers, and makers of souvenirs.
  Why cannot we learn from the examples of other countries?  Long years ago, China realized that women constituted roughly half of the population of every country. They called it the half of China movement!  Cannot India have a half of India movement ? That would mean 700 million people.
   What better than to entrust women with planning and starting a movement for the cleanup of India’s towns, cities, and villages. Combined with the attractive tourist sites that we already have in our country,  tourism could  provide much needed jobs for both men and women in our country. - AB