Schemes, plans and policies for women and women entrepreneurs - with special reference to five year plans of India

In the process of poverty eradication and reducing gender discrimination, the governments have been implementing various schemes and programmes providing ways and means towards women development and empowerment. Self Help Groups (SHGs) movement, one among such programmes which has been proved successful in fulfilling its objectives. Entrepreneurship has been a male dominated phenomenon for the very early age but time has changed the situation and brought women have today's most memorable and inspirational entrepreneurs. Thus empowering women has become the key element in the development of any economy. The Indian economy has been witnessing a drastic change since mid-1991, with new policies of economic liberalization, globalization, and privatization initiated by the Indian Government. India has great entrepreneurial potential. After attaining independence, the Government of India, initially decided to pave a path to bring about social change based on three major areas, viz., constitutional and legal reforms, planned development based on mixed economy and state support to social welfare activities. All these three policies are expected to create a democratic, just and prosperous society. All these three steps have their impact on the status of women. This paper attempts to study the government initiatives for the development and empowerment of women and women entrepreneurs through five year plans.