Educating the girl child is the key to women's empowerment: Modi in New York

New York: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said women's empowerment cannot be complete without the education of girls.

PM, who was answering questions after his address at the Council on Foreign Relations, said that his government is focusing on the education of the girl child to empower women.

"As the Chief Minister of Gujarat, I had taken the initiative to educate the girl child. The motto of our government is - 'Educate girls, save girls'," Prime Minister Modi said.

"Our Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh is a woman. Our External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who is here, is a woman. My Cabinet has 25 percent of women," he added while responding to a question about the initiatives taken by his government for the betterment of the condition of women in the country and to provide them with an equal opportunity with their male counterparts.

He also recalled that India had a woman Prime Minister and women were given voting rights soon after Independence.

"We are working towards 'Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao'," he added.