Sustainable development goals cannot be attained without empowering women: BPSMV VC Prof. Sudesh

Khanpur Kalan, February 27, 2024: Women empowerment is possible only with public participation. We cannot attain sustainable development goals without empowering women. BPSMV Vice Chancellor, Prof. Sudesh, expressed these views as the chief guest at the inauguration of the National Seminar on "Women Empowerment and Sustainable Development Goals" organized by the Department of Social Work.

Talking about the relevance of the theme of this seminar, VC Prof. Sudesh said that women empowerment is a big challenge and a lot still remains to be done in this regard. She said that being the Vice Chancellor of Women's University, she has closely understood the issues related to women. Despite a rich heritage, the problem of depriving women from education still persists.

In her impressive address, VC Prof. Sudesh emphasized on the need to make women, especially girl students, self-reliant through self-employment. She also talked about organizing special programs on women's health and hygiene by MSM Ayurveda Institute. She called upon the research scholars to organize such events regularly in collaboration with other departments.

VC Prof. Sudesh, outlined the history of BPSMV by mentioning the sacrifice made by Bhagat Phool Singh for women's education and empowerment. She said that breaking gender stereotypes is the need of the hour.

As the keynote speaker, Prof. Ashutosh Pradhan of Central University, Himachal Pradesh discussed various sustainable development goals. He said global partnership is the key to achieve the goal of gender equality. He also discussed issues like domestic violence against women, pay inequality among working women etc.

In his presidential address, IGNOU Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Kiran Hazarika signified the importance of women in the society. Referring to the Women's Reservation Bill, he said steps for women empowerment should be taken even without reservation.

Seminar Director and Chairperson of the Social Work Department, Dr. Manju Panwar gave the welcome address and theme of the seminar. Research scholar Kritika conducted the stage. Vote of thanks was given by Dr Deepali Mathur. 10 technical sessions were organized in this national seminar, in which participants from all over the country including Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir presented research papers. This national seminar was sponsored by Indian Council of Social Science Research.