Role of Women & Women's Organisations (Indian Society).
Syllabus: UPSC Mains GS1: Indian society, diversity, women, population, urbanisation, globalisation, communalism, regionalism, secularism
Women empowerment for UPSC: equality vs equity, constitutional provisions, laws, schemes, PLFS and NFHS data, the 2023 reservation Act and challenges.
Self-help groups for UPSC: how SHGs work, NABARD SHG-Bank Linkage (1992), DAY-NRLM, Kudumbashree model, Lakhpati Didi, benefits, problems and PYQs.
On 26 September 2026 the Union Minister of Cooperation launched She-Mart at Kollam, Keralam. Announced in the Budget, She-Mart links women Self-Help Groups and rural women entrepreneurs directly to buyers. More than 300 She-Mart stores are planned across Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, selling local and Bharat Brand products.
UPSC angle: Mains: Can cooperatives solve the market-access problem of women SHGs?
26 Sep 2026
Laws alone have not ended the practice. Campaigns that bring in priests, caterers and community leaders aim at the point where marriages are actually arranged.
UPSC angle: Prelims: PCMA 2006. · Mains: social issues, women and children.
3 Dec 2025
Unpaid care work data are key to understanding low female labour participation.
UPSC angle: Prelims: TUS.
20 Sep 2025
This publication supplies the numbers that gender budgeting needs.
UPSC angle: Prelims: none.
6 Apr 2025