Department of Science and Technology will be leading a ₹2,000-crore initiative to encourage more girls and women to take up careers in the domain of science and engineering, where they are under-represented.

Key Facts

• Pilot programme covering 100,000 girls and women.
• The programmme covers school-going children to those interested in research
• Aim is to raise the percentage of women working in the Indian Institutes of Technology, National Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, and other national research labs.
• To take it from the 10% or so at present, to 33% in the next five years.

Significance

• India fared reasonably well when it comes to enrolment of women in science and engineering, which stood at around 35%.
• But the proportion of women in the science and engineering workforce was an abysmal 12%.
• Though there are more girls than boys in the life sciences, there are fewer in physics, maths, earth science and chemistry.
• Enrolment of women is 28% in engineering, and “very low” in the classical streams  like mechanical, electrical, civil, chemical.

Source : The Hindu

GS II : Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections