Lok Sabha Question No. 272 (STARRED), answered on 2019-12-06
Subject: Development of Women and Children
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Ramcharan Bohra

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK  SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. 272

TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.12.2019

## DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN

## *272 SHRI RAMCHARAN BOHRA

Will the Minister for Women and Child Development be pleased to state:

- (a) the  names  of  the  schemes  being implemented  through  Non-Governmental Organisations  and  State  Governments  for  the  development  of  women  and children in the country;
- (b) whether the Government lays down norms for the proper implementation of such schemes and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  for  the  proper  implementation  and monitoring of these schemes;
- (d) the number of persons benefited from the said schemes; and
- (e) whether the Government is preparing any data in this regard, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

- (a)  to (e):  A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

*****

## Statement referred to in reply to part (a) to (e) of Lok  Sabha Starred Question No. 272  to  be  answered  on  06.12.2019  regarding  "Development  of  Women  and Children"

(a) to (e) The details  of  schemes  being  implemented  through Non-Governmental Organizations and State Governments/Union Territory Administrations for the development  of  women  and  children,  implementation  norms,  monitoring  mechanism and beneficiary details are as under:

The Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing Centrally Sponsored Umbrella Scheme Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) for holistic development  of  children  in  the  age  group  of  0-6  years,  adolescent  girls,  pregnant women and lactating  mothers.    The  Ministry  is  also  implementing  Umbrella  scheme Mission for Protection and Empowerment of Women as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to  channelize  holistic  efforts  for  empowerment  of  women  both  economically  and socially.  The  Ministry has issued detailed guidelines for each scheme which inter-alia include  explicit  information  about  institutional  structure,  implementation  modalities, target  beneficiaries,  fund  flow  and  disbursal  mechanism,  monitoring  and  evaluation mechanism  and  grievance  redressal  mechanism.    Funds  are  released  to  State Governments/UT  Administrations  for  implementation  of  the  schemes  as  per  cost sharing ratio decided by the Union Government from time to time. These two umbrella schemes have following sub-schemes:

Anganwadi Services: The Anganwadi Services offers a package of six services, viz. Supplementary  Nutrition,  Pre-School  Non-Formal  Education,  Nutrition  and  Health Education, Immunization, Health Check-Up and Referral Services. The objectives of the scheme are to improve the nutritional and health status of children in the age-group of 0-6 years and pregnant women and lactating mothers upto six months after child birth, to lay the foundation for proper psychological, physical and social development of the child; to reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropouts; to  achieve  effective  co-ordination  of  policy  and  implementation  amongst  the  various departments to promote child development; and to enhance the capability of the mother to look after the normal health and nutritional needs of the child through proper nutrition and  health  education.  These  services  are  delivered  through  13.77  lakh  operational Anganwadi Centres. For proper implementation and monitoring of Anganwadi Services Scheme, Government has introduced 5-tier monitoring & review mechanism at different levels (National/ State/ District/  Block  and Anganwadi  level)  by  Constitution of Monitoring and Review Committees and involving PRIs and MPs and MLAs in State, District  and  Block  level  Monitoring  Committees.  The  committees  monitor  proper implementation of all other schemes under Umbrella ICDS which are being implemented  through  Anganwadi  Centre  platform.  At  present,  there  are  836.25  lakh beneficiaries availing these services as on 30.06.2019. The Ministry has issued detailed guidelines for proper implementation of the scheme.

POSHAN Abhiyaan: Government has launched POSHAN Abhiyaan on 18.12.2017 for a three year time frame commencing from 2017-18 with an overall budget of Rs.9046 Crore.  All  36  States/UTs  and  districts  have  been  covered.  The  goals  of  POSHAN Abhiyaan are to achieve improvement in nutritional status of Children from 0-6 years, Adolescent  Girls,  Pregnant  Women  and  Lactating  Mothers  in  a  time  bound  manner during the three years with fixed targets as under:

|   S.No | Objective                                                                                          | Target        |
|--------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------|
|      1 | Prevent and reduce Stunting in children (0- 6 years)                                               | By 6% @2%p.a. |
|      2 | Prevent and reduce under-nutrition (underweight prevalence) in children (0-6 years)                | By 6% @2%p.a. |
|      3 | Reduce the prevalence of anaemia among young Children (6-59 months)                                | By 9% @3%p.a. |
|      4 | Reduce the prevalence of anaemia among Women and Adolescent Girls in the age group of 15-49 years. | By 9% @3%p.a. |
|      5 | Reduce Low Birth Weight (LBW).                                                                     | By 6% @2%p.a. |

The Abhiyaan aims to reduce malnutrition in the country in a phased manner, through a life  cycle  approach,  by  adopting  a  synergised  and  result  oriented  approach.  The Abhiyaan will ensure mechanisms for timely service delivery and a robust monitoring as well as intervention infrastructure. The major works undertaken under this Abhiyaan are ensuring convergence with various other programmes; Information Technology enabled Common Application Software for strengthening service delivery, monitoring progress and  interventions;  Community  Mobilization  and  Awareness  Advocacy  leading  to  Jan Andolan- to educate the people on nutritional  aspects; Capacity Building of Frontline Functionaries, incentivizing States/ UTs for achieving goals etc.

Scheme for Adolescent Girls: With an aim to motivate out of school adolescent girls (11-14  years)  to  join  school  system,  Scheme  for  Adolescent  Girls  (SAG)  has  been expanded pan India from 1 st April, 2018. The key objective of the scheme is to facilitate, educate and empower Adolescent Girls (AGs) so as to enable them to become selfreliant  and  aware  citizens.  Scheme  is  implemented  through  Anganwadi  Centers (AWCs).  The  scheme  has  two  component  Nutrition  and  Non  nutrition  Under  nonnutrition component a package of services is given to adolescent girls including i) Iron and  Folic  Acid  (IFA)  supplementation;  ii)  Health  check-up  and  Referral  services;  iii) Nutrition & Health Education (NHE); iv) Mainstreaming out of school girls to join formal schooling; v) Life Skill  Education;  and  vii)  Counselling/Guidance on accessing Public Services.  Number  of  beneficiaries  of  the  scheme  in  the  current  financial  year  is 4,92,944.

National Crèche Scheme: National Crèche Scheme is being implemented with effect from 01.01.2017 to provide day care facilities to children (age group of 6 months  - 6 years)  of  working  mothers.  The  scheme  provides  an  integrated  package  of  five services,  viz,  Daycare  Facilities  including  Sleeping  Facilities,  Early  Stimulation  for children  below  3  years  and  Pre-school Education  for  3  to  6  years  old  children, Supplementary Nutrition, Growth Monitoring, Health Check-up and Immunization: Regular and strict monitoring is  conducted at different  levels to ensure effective  running  of  the  scheme  and  also the  beneficiaries  are  delivered  services  as envisaged in the scheme. The scheme is implemented either by the State Governments/UT Administrations directly or through suitable Voluntary Organisations / Non-Governmental  Organisations  who  are  registered  with  NITI  Aayog.  Monitoring  of crèches is  conducted  at  local  and  district  level,  by  independent  monitoring  agencies, mobile  /  web  based  monitoring  and  by  Central  Monitoring  Cell.  As  on  date  6701 Crèches  are  running  through  the  State  Governments/UT  Administrations  benefitting about 1,20,618 children.

Child  Protection  Services: The  Ministry  of  Women  and  Child  Development  is implementing a centrally sponsored Child Protection Services (CPS) scheme (erstwhile Integrated Child Protection Scheme) for supporting the children in difficult circumstances, as envisaged under Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children)

Act, 2015 (JJ Act). Under CPS, Central Government is providing financial assistance to the States/UTs for undertaking a situational analysis of children in difficult circumstances,  for  setting  up  and  maintenance  of  various  types  of  Child  Care Institutions  (CCIs)  in  every  district  or  group  of  districts,  either  by  itself  or  through voluntary  or  Non-Governmental  Organization  (NGO).  The  primary  responsibility  of implementation of the scheme lies  with the States/UTs.  The NGOs implementing the scheme are  required  to  obtain  the  unique  Id  from  the  NGO-DARPAN  Portal  of  NITI Aayog  to  be  eligible  to  apply  for  grants  to  the  concerned  State  Government/UT Administration.  Under  the  scheme,  institutional  care  is  provided  through  CCIs,  as  a rehabilitative  measure.  The  programmes  and  activities  in  Homes,  inter-alia,  include age-appropriate  education,  access  to  vocational  training,  recreation,  health  care, counselling, etc. The scheme provides for education (including bridge education) with the help of Education Department specially with the help of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and National Open School. Under the non-institutional care component, support is extended for  adoption,  foster  care and  sponsorship.  Further  CPS  also  provides  for  'After  care' services  after  the  age  of  18  years  to  help  sustain  them  during  the  transition  from institutional  to  independent  life.  The  scheme  supports  24x7  outreach  helpline  service for children in distress. This service is available through a dedicated toll free number, 1098 which can be accessed by children in crisis or by adults on their behalf from any place in India. As per information provided by States/UTs as on dated 2100 CCIs are presently functioning in the country under CPS and approximately 75,660 children are being benefited through the scheme.

Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana: Objective of Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) is to provide partial compensation for the wage loss by way of cash incentive so that the woman can take adequate rest before and after delivery of the first child and to provide cash incentive to improve health seeking behaviour amongst the Pregnant Women & Lactating Mothers (PW&LM). Under the scheme, maternity benefit of Rs.5,000 is transferred to the bank account of the women eligible for the benefit as per scheme guidelines. The maternity benefit is available to a woman for the first living child of family subject to fulfilment of certain conditions. The eligible beneficiaries also receive cash incentives as per approved norms towards Maternity Benefit under Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) after institutional delivery so that on an average a woman gets Rs.6000/-.  As  on  28 th November,  2019,  1,11,78,036  women  have  been  paid  total benefit of Rs. 4571.27 crore under PMMVY.

Swadhar Greh: The scheme targets the women victims of difficult circumstances who are in need of institutional support for rehabilitation so that they could lead their life with dignity. The Scheme envisages providing shelter, food, clothing and health as well as economic  and  social  security  for  these  women. The  Scheme  is  being  implemented through  the  State  Governments/UT  Administration  w.e.f  01.04.2016.  The  scheme  is monitored at District, State and Central levels. The number of women benefitted under Swadhar Greh Scheme for current FY is 12,890.

Ujjawala  Homes: The scheme is being implemented for prevention of trafficking and for  rescue,  rehabilitation,  re-integration  and  repatriation  of  victims  of  trafficking  for commercial  sexual  exploitation. Under  this  scheme,  the  funds are provided to implementing  agencies  for  rescue  and  rehabilitation  of  victims  of  trafficking  which includes  vocational  training  from  recognized  institutes  for  alternate  livelihood  options and skill development of the inmates. Implementation and monitoring of the Scheme is done through the State Governments/UT Administrations w.e.f 01.04.2016.

The scheme is monitored at Panchayat/Block/District Level, State and Central Levels. The Number of women benefitted under Ujjawala Scheme for current financial year is 5427.

Working  Women  Hostels: Working  Women's  Hostel  scheme   is to promote availability of safe and conveniently located accommodation for working women, with day  care  facility  for  their  children, wherever possible, in urban, semi urban, and even rural  areas  where  employment opportunity  for women exist.  The scheme is assisting projects for construction of new hostel buildings, expansion of existing hostel buildings and  also  for  running  hostel  buildings  in  rented  premises.  The  Scheme  is  being implemented  as  a  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  through  the  State  Governments/UT Administrations w.e.f 22.11.2017. Regular  monitoring of the functioning of the hostels is  the  responsibility of the District Administration.  Since its  inception in 1972-73, 952 Hostels  have  been  sanctioned  all  over  the  country  for  the  benefit  of  about  72,268 working  women.  The additional number of  women who  would benefit under Working Women Hostels for the current FY 2019-20 is 750.

Mahila Shakti Kendra (MSK): Mahila Shakti Kendra Scheme aims to empower rural women through community participation. The scheme envisages community engagement  through  College  Student  Volunteers  to  empower  rural  women  in  115 aspirational districts as part of block  level initiatives. District Level Centre for Women (DLCW) in 640 districts and State Resource Centre for Women support the respective government  in  States/UTs  towards  implementation  of  women  centric  schemes  and BBBP program. District level activities were approved for 220 districts in Phase I (201718), 220 districts in Phase II (2018-19) and remaining 200 districts in Phase III (201920).    Implementation  and  monitoring  of  the  scheme  is  ensured  through  regular coordination  with  the  States/UTs,  video  Conference  meetings,  training  &  capacity building programmes, field visits etc.  The Addendum  to Mahila Shakti Kendra Scheme dated  20 th December,  2018  include  component  on  'Capacity  building  of  Women collectives' and envisages provision for capacity building of women collective through NGOs  in  not  more  than  50%  of  the  block  of  aspirational  districts.  The  focus  is  on mobilizing  women  into  collectives  which  will  work  towards  greater  self-employability through  upping  their  skills.  Special  preferences  are  to  be  given  to  asset  less  rural women such as manual scavengers, bonded labourers, women rescued from trafficking and women with disabilities and destitute.

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao: Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) was launched on 22nd January, 2015 as a Central Sector Scheme to address the issue of declining Child Sex Ratio  (CSR).  BBBP  Scheme  is  a  tri-ministerial  initiative  of  Ministries  of  Women  and Child Development, Health & Family Welfare and Human Resource Development. The overall  Goal  of  the  BBBP  Scheme  is  to  celebrate  the  Girl  Child  and  enable  her Education. The Objectives are to (a)   prevent gender biased sex selective elimination (b) ensure survival and protection of the girl child, building value of girl child; and (c) ensure education and participation of the girl child. There are two major components under  BBBP:  (i)  Advocacy  and  Media  Campaign  -  the  nation-wide  media  campaign focuses on addressing socio-cultural mindsets to end discrimination towards girl-child and  bring in positive changes  in CSR,  with the underlying theme  of positive reinforcement of girl child. Therefore, 360 degree approach of publicity through different media  is  adopted  to  create  maximum  awareness  /  dissemination  of  the  message  of BBBP.    (ii) Multi-sectoral intervention -A flexible framework  for multi-sectoral intervention  has  been  adapted,  where  District  has  to  develop  District  specific  Action Plans  to  achieve  Monitorable  Targets.  Multi-departmental,  Convergent  action  in  the chosen districts is led by the District Magistrate/Deputy Commissioners and lays focus on the following:

MoHFW  (as  Partner  Ministry): effective implementation and  monitoring of  PreConception & Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PC&PNDT Act 1994), promotion of early registration of pregnancy, institutional deliveries and registration of births. MoHRD (as  Partner  Ministry):  making  schools  girl-friendly:  enrolment  of  girls  in  schools, retention  of  girls  in  secondary  schools,  availability  of  functional  toilets  MoWCD  (as Nodal Ministry): awareness generation, advocacy, community mobilization and training of stakeholders, local champions, reward & reorganisation for outstanding work under BBBP.

One Stop Centre (OSC) Scheme: Popularly known as Sakhi Centres, the scheme is being  implemented  across  the  country  since  1st  April  2015.  OSCs  aim  to  facilitate women affected by violence with a range of integrated services under one roof such as Police facilitation, medical aid, providing legal aid and legal counselling, psycho-social counselling, temporary shelter etc. OSCs are  to be set up either  in new constructed building in an approved design or existing buildings and preferably located within 2 kms radius of the hospitals or medical facilities. Under the scheme, One Stop Centres are being set up in all districts of the country. So far, 728 OSCs have been approved to be set  up  in  all  States/UTs.  Out  of  these,  614  OSCs  have  been  set  up  across  35 States/UTs which have provided assistance to over 2.27 lakh women.

Scheme  of  Universalisation  of  Women  Helpline  (WHL): The  Scheme  of  Women Helpline through the short code 181 provides 24 hours emergency and non-emergency response to women affected by violence, both in public and private spaces by linking them  with  appropriate  authority  such  as  Police,  One  Stop  Centre,  Hospital,  Legal Services etc. WHL also supports women in distress with rescue van and counselling services  in  addition  to  providing  information  about  women  welfare  schemes  and programs across the country. Women Helpline is operational in 32 States/UTs.

Mahila  Police  Volunteers  Scheme: The  Mahila  Police  Volunteers  are  empowered, responsible, socially aware women fostering linkage for the women needing assistance and law enforcements with various government programmes and initiatives. At least 1 MPV shall be engaged in each and every Panchayat/Ward. Bigger villages can have more  than  one  Volunteers  depending  upon  the  area/requirement.  At  present,  MPV Scheme  is  approved  for  12  States  namely  Mizoram  (Aizawl  &  Lunglei),  Karnataka (Gulbarga & Bagalkote) , Jharkhand (Ranchi & Dhanbad), Haryana (Karnal &Mahendranagar),  Andhra  Pradesh  (all  districts),  Gujarat  (Surat  &  Ahmedabad), Chhattisgarh  (Korea  &  Durg),  Madhya  Pradesh  (Vidisha&Morena),Tripura  (West Tripura  &  Gomti),Nagaland  (Dimapur&Longleng),  Uttarakhand  (Haridwar  and  Udham Singh Nagar) and Andaman & Nicobar Islands with over 9531 Volunteers. However, for Andaman  &  Nicobar  Islands, Jharkhand, Madhya  Pradesh,  Karnataka, Tripura, Nagaland and Uttarakhand, MPV Scheme is under process of operationalization.

*****