Jaipur, Mar 8 (PTI) Former prime minister Indira Gandhi was a symbol of women empowerment and she showed how a woman can rule, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said on Tuesday on International Women's Day.

He also directed officials to ensure effective execution of the Udaan scheme, under which sanitary napkins are provided free of cost, in the state.

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Addressing a state-level function on the occasion, he said the state government is committed to provide a safe environment to women and there will be no dearth of funds to provide them self defence training.

The Udaan scheme was launched in December under which sanitary napkins are provided free of cost to women. The state government has allocated a fund of Rs 200 crore for the scheme.

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Gehlot said that he has not seen any movie in the last 20-25 years but when the work on the scheme was going on, he watched the film Padman and was inspired a lot.

He also said that women in villages should watch the movie and asked Women and Child Development Minister Mamta Bhupesh to make arrangements accordingly.

The chief minister said that former prime minister Indira Gandhi was the symbol of women empowerment who showed how a woman can rule.

He said that in India, the right to vote was given to women when the Constitution was made and this fact reflected that the leaders of that era in the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawahar Lal Nehru had progressive thoughts for women.

Minister Bhupesh and Chief Secretary Usha Sharma also addressed the function and highlighted the programmes and policies of the state government for women welfare.

Gehlot also honoured several women under different categories of the Indira Mahila Shakti awards.

Before addressing the programme, Gehlot visited an exhibition and interacted with women representatives of various NGOs and organisations and learned about their works.

He was also given a demonstration of self defence by the Nirbhaya Squad of the Jaipur police.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)