Women from rural India will play important role to make India a developed nation

"Women's freedom is the sign of social freedom," said Rosa Luxemburg.

Women are free human beings. They are not birds, so they can’t be caged. Today, women want to weave their own safety net, they prefer to step out, like to voice their opinion, want to enhance their skill sets, and love to learn, work, earn, grow, and live their dreams.

After all, it’s a basic human right.

Women—no matter where they belong, whether urban, rural, or tribal—want to be changemakers. They are the nation’s soul, and that’s one of the key reasons the Indian government is persistently putting efforts toward women’s empowerment in all aspects.

In fact, the government’s huge array of progressive schemes and policies, especially for women in rural India, is a bridge for them to stay encouraged and put a foot forward towards their own socio-economic freedom.

Now, villages are swiftly developing, and women are playing a significant role in the development of villages.     

To fulfill the pledges laid down by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make India a developed nation by the time the country celebrates its 100^th Independence Day, women are now actively identifying solutions to many issues in their villages.

As most of the existing solutions are costly, complex, and inefficient, women are finding effective and sustainable solutions.

In fact, women in India’s villages are more solution-oriented and are trying to identify, deploy, and use startup innovations to transform villages into ‘Model Gaon.’

In an era when startups are developing into an urban phenomenon, women are striving to take startup innovation to the grassroots. To enrich and develop villagers and villages, they are deploying startup innovations to find optimal and efficient solutions to complex problems. 

Adopting a bottom-up approach, Model Gaon collaborates with innovators, existing startups, and other relevant stakeholders within the ecosystem. As agriculture is the lifeline of Indian villages, and any innovation here could present significant growth potential, women should leave no stone unturned to foster the industrialisation of agriculture in the country.

They are already working to transform their village's 'agriculture' into "agri-business" and changing society's mindset. Similarly, they are encouraged and engaged in various non-agricultural sectoral innovations. They should aim to be actively involved in startup innovations in different ways, including —

• Bridging knowledge by connecting startups with mentors and domain experts
• In a district or village, deploy the solution through a pilot project to get it tested and verified
• To get the required funds for each entity, connect with relevant angel investors, venture capitalists, and various other funding sources 

Women want to be changemakers — someone who adopts a participatory and innovative approach to find a solution to a social problem and achieves the same in a positive environment.

A changemaker focuses on self-development and aims to apply their knowledge to society. And, this is how women can further strengthen their imperative role:

• By playing an important role in establishing the agenda for development in villages
• To enable the village’s development through acquired knowledge, ideas, learning, and suggestions to contribute to the transformation of their village into a model village
• Villagers will seek guidance on their problems, and the changemaker will evolve as a social leader
• They will earn respect as a progressive individual working for the welfare of people

For women who wish to be changemakers, their key personality traits should be:

• Ambitious and a risk-taker
• Creative and have a keen desire to learn
• Good communication skills
• Motivated to work for social welfare
• Inclined to help others
• Have a vibrant personality 

Changemakers must incorporate the key aspects of collective accountability for integrity, socio-ecological practices, and a stance on learning.

There is a need to study and understand how village adoption and transformation play a significant role in the holistic development of rural regions, including tribal areas.

To be resourceful for the "big change," we need to witness decolonisation. Now is the time for women to step out of the conventional playing field and be an engine of innovation. They can be a catalyst for stimulating societal change, preserving ecological sustainability, and creating a prosperous economy.

Fortunately, there is an enormous force to work on cohesive methods using innovative enterprise-based models to enhance socio-economic freedom. Indian women are analytical, futuristic, and progressive.

Women are actively engaged in social entrepreneurship and promoting it massively because they know it is going to play a significant role in bridging the gap formed by discrimination and poverty at the grassroots level.