Context: Recently, the second phase of Vigyan Jyoti programme commenced on the occasion of International Day of Women and Girls in Science on February 11th.
Background

• The under-representation of women is a multi-dimensional problem and there is need to see the problems from all angles and give a little push to get the desired result.
• The New Education Policy and the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy could remove the constraints and increase number of women in science.
• The programme had been running successfully in 50 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNV) since December 2019 and has now been expanded to 50 more JNVs for the year 2021-22.

About Vigyan Jyoti Programme

• It is a new initiative to encourage girls to take interest in science and build career.
• It was launched by the Department of Science & Technology (DST) to create a level-playing field for the meritorious girls to pursue STEM.
• The programme has been started at school level for meritorious girls of Class IX to Class XII to encourage and empower them to pursue STEM courses.

Significance of Vigyan Jyoti Programme

• The programme addresses the under-representation of women in certain areas of STEM.
• The programme includes student-parent counselling, visit to labs and knowledge centres, partners role model interactions, science camps, academic support classes, resource material distribution and tinkering activities.

Other Government Initiatives to empower women

Women-centric programmes to bring gender parity in Science & Technology (S&T) domain by DST

• Women Scientists Scheme to help women with career-break
• Indo-US Fellowship for Women in STEMM (WISTEMM) program where women scientists can work in research labs of USA
• Consolidation of University Research for Innovation and Excellence in Women Universities (CURIE) programme for improving R&D infrastructure and establishing state-of-the-art research facilities in order to create excellence in S&T in women universities
• Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI) program in pilot mode. 
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) labs in women universities with the goal to foster AI innovations and to prepare skilled manpower for AI-based jobs in future.