New Delhi, Aug 22 (PTI) Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday called on women SHGs to spread the message of organisation, health and prosperity in families under their leadership and contribute their best for a developed India.

Chouhan -- the Union minister for Rural Development, and Agriculture & Farmers Welfare -- was addressing the National Conference on Food, Nutrition, Health and WASH, organised by the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission.

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While praising the organisation under the mission, he urged the department not to write the name of the scheme in its abbreviated form.

"When we write the full name, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya will be respected and the objective accomplished," he said.

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"We name schemes after great personalities and then abbreviate it. Who is DDY? We should write the (full) name to give respect to the person, otherwise Mahatma Gandhi becomes MG ... There is Tatya Tope Nagar in Bhopal, it has been made TT Nagar ... I feel pained," he said.

The objective of the mission is to free people from poverty but work also has to be done on ensuring their good health, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said.

"Developed India means prosperous India, healthy India and clean India. So didis should take the lead in health and education," he said.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day speech, Chouhan requested the women present to work with more strength so that the resolution of hitting the mark of three crore 'Lakhpati Didis' can be fulfilled soon.

Stating that women were not a burden but a blessing, the minister said self-help groups (SHGs) had not only empowered rural women economically but also socially, educationally and politically.

Union Minister of State for Rural Development Chandra Shekhar Pemmasani said the welfare of women and children in India were a priority.

"The government led by Prime Minister Modi has recognised the potential of these women who were till now spending their hard-earned money on recurring diseases are now emerging as community leaders," he said.

Pemmasani said the integration of food, nutrition, water, sanitation and health programmes in the mission for social development initiatives was not just a policy but a revolution.

NITI Aayog member VK Paul, Rural Development Additional Secretary Charanjit Singh, former secretary Amarjeet Sinha and senior officials of other ministries were present at the conference.

Institutions such as UNICEF, World Bank and the World Health Organization were also represented.

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