New Delhi: Finance Minister Piyush Goyal highlighted the steps taken by the government in the direction of women empowerment and assured that as many as 8 crore houses in rural India will be connected with free cooking gas by the next year, while he was introducing the interim budget 2019, which comes months ahead of the crucial national polls, in which the female voters are anticipated to play a decisive role.

While presenting the budget Goyal said : “In our manifesto we had promised to transform lives of women , especially rural women. Keeping in line, we embarked upon a programme for providing clean fuel to the rural homemakers to assure their healthy living.”

“In the Ujjwala Yojana, we have aimed to provide free LPG connection to 8 crore rural households”, Goyal said.

“Six crore free cooking gas connections have already been provided and the target of 8 crore is likely to be achieved by the next year”, Jaitley said.

Emphasising the growing role of women in business sector Goyal said that more than 70% of the beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana are women.

He also highlighted 26 weeks of maternity leave period entitled to women.

He said “75% of woman beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, 26 weeks of maternity leave and the Pradhan Mantri Matritva Yojana, are all empowering women in the country.”