New Delhi, Oct. 4 -- Visvesvaraya was impressed with how women in the Soviet Union, Japan and many European countries worked alongside men in factories. He boldly called for the entry of more women in the formal labour force in India, so that "the capacity of the nation to build up prosperity will advance at a bound". K.T. Shah would also write that women were numerically the biggest minority in the country, but were neglected because they were unlike social and religious minorities that "cry aloud to the high heavens about their rights or grievances". Indian women did not use their collective voice to campaign for more rights.

The National Planning Committee was aware of these challenges. It set up a group to examine how Indian women co...