Power Trendsetter: Mehbooba Mufti

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti became the first woman chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, succeeding her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who passed away in early January, with party MLAs unanimously electing her as their leader. The head of the state has a formidable reputation of being an impassioned leader.

On her Ladli Beti scheme: ‘Women are the first and worst sufferers of any kind of conflict,’ says Mufti. In Jammu and Kashmir, the ratio of female to male has dropped significantly. This led to the genesis of the scheme, the idea behind which is to offer incentives to below poverty-line families with a girl child. ‘Just depositing money in her account may not be enough, so give her good education, skills, and she is empowered enough to carry on,’ finished Mufti.

CM speak: As the leader of a state, she believes, ‘If you are able to provide good governance, provide people with a sense of security and develop a state, I think you can get away with anything.’

Read about our next power woman, Heena Sidhu.