Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini Friday made a slew of announcements to mark the birth anniversary of iconic social reformer Savitribai Phule including that the state government will now officially celebrate the day every year. Saini also announced the state government will expedite the proposal to extend the metro line from Bahadurgarh to Asaudha. He also said the Bahadurgarh Municipal Council will be upgraded to a Municipal Corporation.
Saini made the announcements at a programme in Bahadurgarh on the occasion of Savitribai Phule Jayanti. During the programme, the chief minister said Phule's birth anniversary will, from now on, be celebrated officially by the state government every year.
According to an official statement, he further said feasibility checks will be carried out to proceed with projects such as constructing an underpass at the railway crossing in the city, renovating roads in Bahadurgarh, developing a park on the vacant land adjacent to the old court, and establishing a "Vyayamshala" and "Yogshala" on a plot near the old bus stand.
Paying his tribute to Phule, Saini also said she was not only India's first woman teacher but also a beacon of women empowerment. Married to Jyotiba Phule, a revered social reformer himself, Savitribai Phule was considered by many as India's first woman teacher due to her pioneering work for educating women -- especially from deprived groups -- when it was considered a taboo.
Meanwhile, Saini further said Phule's vision inspires the Haryana government's women empowerment initiatives. The Government Women's College in Loharu, Bhiwani, has been renamed after Savitribai Phule. The government is committed to educating and empowering women and continuous efforts are being made toward this goal, he said.
Despite facing numerous obstacles, she courageously established a girls' school in Pune, Maharashtra, in 1848, Saini said. Born on January 3, 1831 at Naigaon in Satara district of Maharashtra, Savitribai married Jyotiba and moved to Pune with him. Her husband, fired by modern ideas and reformist zeal, taught her to read and write. Savitribai took a teachers' training course and became a qualified teacher in 1847.
The couple then started a school for girls in Bhidewada in Pune city in 1848, and she became its first teacher. The couple had to face tremendous harassment from conservative elements who found the idea of women' education repugnant. Chief Minister Saini said that inspired by Savitribai Phule's vision, the BJP government in the state has opened colleges within a 20-kilometer radius to provide higher education.
In the last 10 years, 79 government colleges have been established, including 30 exclusively for girls, he said. Saini said that in January 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the nationwide 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign from Panipat.
"Haryana has actively worked with NGOs to save daughters under this initiative. The state's gender ratio has improved from 871 to 916. Haryana is now recognised as a state that empowers daughters rather than one that suppresses them, marking a true tribute to Mata Savitribai Phule," he said, according to the statement.
