Sydney, April 25: The Australian government has announced additional financial aid to a project working for women and girls in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The Commonwealth of Learning's (COL) project "Reaching the Unreached" (RtU) is aimed at providing education and training to 40,000 women and girls who cannot attend school in remote and disadvantaged communities due to early marriage and cultural norms in these countries.

With the additional funds, the project will now reach more women and girls to provide secondary schooling and skills development training through open and distance learning, COL said in a statement on Tuesday.

The announcement was made by the Minister for International Development Concetta Fierravanti-Wells during the Global Citizen Live, an event related to the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London.

In India, the RtU project covers 150 villages in the Satara district of Maharashtra. These communities were selected because of dropout rates arising from migration, poverty and long distances to school.

According to a 2017 Baseline-Endline Report, 25,284 women and girls in these communities throughout India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, completed life skills and vocational skills training, with 4,724 successfully moving into income-generating activities.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Mumbai (PTI): Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday denied any row over the CM's post and asserted that leaders of Mahayuti will take a call even as counting of votes showed the saffron party-led coalition is heading for a landslide victory.

Addressing reporters, Fadnavis said the results of the Maharashtra assembly polls show that the state supports PM Narendra Modi and also thanked women voters.

"Opposition’s efforts of propagating a fake narrative, and polarisation of voters based on religion foiled by masses," said Fadnavis.

The Deputy CM said he succeeded in breaking the 'chakravyuh' of opposition due to the support of voters, the BJP team and party leaders.

With some leaders in BJP demanding that Fadnavis don the mantle of the next CM, the BJP stalwart said there was no row over the CM's post in Mahayuti- comprising BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP.

"Leaders of Mahayuti parties will decide (on next CM)," Fadnavis told reporters in Mumbai.

He said the people of Maharashtra have shown that the party headed by Eknath Shinde is the real Shiv Sena of Balasaheb Thackeray.

As per the poll trends, the BJP has won 10 constituencies and leading in 120.