The SCO Women’s Forum 2026 was held in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic on 26 June 2026, where India reaffirmed its commitment to women‑led development and regional cooperation on women’s empowerment.
Forum: Date, Participation, Themes
- Date & venue: 26 June 2026, Bishkek; held under Kyrgyzstan’s rotating SCO chairmanship.
- Participants: representatives of SCO member states’ government agencies, international organisations, civil society, experts, women entrepreneurs and movement leaders.
- Core themes: women in public and political leadership, economic participation, and opportunities from digital transformation.
India’s Commitments and Programmes
- Women‑Led Development: positioned as central to achieving “Viksit Bharat” by 2047.
- Self‑Help Groups (SHGs): nearly 100 million women organised into over 9 million SHGs; promotion supported under DAY‑NRLM (Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana‑National Rural Livelihoods Mission).
- ‘Lakhpati Didis’: over 30 million women attained this status via government financial independence initiatives (news figure).
- Flagship schemes showcased: Mission Shakti (women’s safety and empowerment) and Mission POSHAN 2.0 (nutrition and care programmes).
SCO: Membership and Institutional Facts
- Full members: China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran.
- Secretariat & RATS: SCO Secretariat in Beijing; Regional Anti‑Terrorist Structure (RATS) based in Tashkent.
- Mandate: intergovernmental organisation for political, economic and security cooperation with annual summits and rotating chairmanship.
IASPOINT Booster Facts
- Nodal ministry: Ministry of Women and Child Development is the central ministry for women’s programmes in India.
- DAY‑NRLM: implements SHG formation, savings and livelihood linkages under Ministry of Rural Development.
- International framework: CEDAW is the UN convention relevant to elimination of discrimination against women; thematic relevance for multilateral gender fora.