Lok Sabha Question No. 543 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-04
Subject: Welfare of Women belonging to Economically Weaker Section
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shardaben Anilbhai Patel, Mitesh Rameshbhai (Bakabhai) Patel

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 543

TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.02.2022

## WELFARE OF WOMEN BELONGING TO ECONOMICALLY WEAKER SECTION

- 543 SHRIMATI SHARDABEN ANILBHAI PATEL SHRI MITESH RAMESHBHAI PATEL (BAKABHAI)

Will the Minister OF WOMEN CHILD AND DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the steps being taken by the Government for the welfare of the women belonging to economically weaker and socially backward sections;
- (b) whether the women who are victims of prostitution and human trafficking have been covered under Swadhar Greh Yojana; and
- (c) if so, the details of the facilities and assistance being provided to these victimized women?

## ANSWER

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

- (a)  The  Government  is  implementing  several  schemes  for  the  welfare  of  women belonging  to  economically  weaker  and  socially  backward  sections  which  inter-alia include the following:

Swadhar Greh Scheme caters to primary needs of women in difficult circumstances women  and  girls  rendered  homeless  due  to  family  discord,  crime,  violence,  mental stress, social ostracism or are being forced into prostitution and are in moral danger. The  scheme  through  the  provisions  of  shelter,  food,  clothing,  counseling,  training, clinical  and  legal  aid  aims  to  rehabilitate  such  women  in  difficult  circumstance economically and emotionally.

Ujjawala Scheme aims to (i) prevent trafficking of women and children for commercial sexual exploitation through social mobilization and awareness generation programmes, (ii) facilitate rescue of victims from the place of their exploitation and place them in safe custody,  (iii)  provide  rehabilitation  services  through  basic  amenities/needs  such  as shelter, food, clothing, medical treatment including counselling, legal aid and guidance and vocational training, (iv) facilitate reintegration of victims into the family and society at large, and (v) facilitate repatriation of cross-border victims to their country of origin.

One Stop Centres (OSCs), popularly known as Sakhi Centres, aim to facilitate women affected by violence (including domestic violence) with a range of integrated services under one roof such as Police facilitation, medical aid, legal aid and legal counselling, psycho-social counselling, temporary shelter, etc.

Women Helpline (WHL) Scheme 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 can dial 181 short code to avail services from Women Helpline.

National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP ) is a fully funded Centrally Sponsored Scheme  for  the  under-privileged  identified  by  the  States  and  UTs.  The  objective  of NSAP is to provide a basic level of financial support.

In  alignment  with  the  goals  under  Nation  Health  Policy  (NHP)  2017, the  Government announced  the  ambitious  and  holistic Ayushman  Bharat  Programme with  its  twin pillars  of  Health  and  Wellness  Centres  and  Pradhan  Mantri  Jan  Arogya  Yojana (PMJAY) in September 2018. Under Jan Aarogya Yojana, coverage is provided to poor and vulnerable families. This will help improve women's access to health care services.

Government of India launched the Stand Up India scheme on 5 th April 2016 to promote entrepreneurship amongst  women, SC and ST categories, i.e.,  those  sections of  the population understood to be facing significant hurdles due to lack of advice/ mentorship as well as inadequate and delayed credit. The Scheme facilitates bank loans between Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 1 crore to at least one scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe borrower and at least one woman borrower per bank branch of Scheduled Commercial Banks for setting up Greenfield enterprises in trading, manufacturing and services sector.

Government  has  set  up Pradhan  Mantri  Kaushal  Kendras under  Pradhan  Mantri Kaushal  Vikas  Yojana  across  the  country.  Emphasis  has  been  laid  on  creating additional  infrastructure  for  training  and  apprenticeship  for  women,  flexible  training delivery  mechanisms  such  as  mobile  training  units,  flexible  afternoon  batches  along with local need-based training to accommodate women and ensuring safe and gender sensitive training environment for women trainers, equity in remuneration and complaint redressal mechanism.

Mahatma Gandhi National  Rural  Employment  Guarantee  Act,  2005  (MGNREGA) seeks to ensure employment in rural households, mandating that at least one third of the  jobs  generated  should  be  given  to  women.  MGNREGA  Guidelines  have  special provisions  to  encourage  participation  of  women,  which  includes  giving  preference  to women (especially single women) and older persons for work on worksites nearer to their  residences,  child  care  facilities  at  the  worksite  in  case  more  than  five  children under 6 years of age are present, adequate representation of women in the MGNREGA staff.  It  ensure  that  widows,  deserted  women  and  destitute  women  are  provided  100 days of work. Awareness and outreach activities are carried out to ensure that all wage seekers (including women) are able to handle bank procedures. Pregnant and lactating mothers are treated as a special category with provision for suitable work for them.

Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan (PM-SYM) has been launched to ensure old age protection for unorganised workers including women who are not covered by any other pension scheme.

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) has been initiated by Government, inter alia, for facilitation of self-employment. Under PMMY, collateral free loans upto Rs. 10 lakh are extended to micro/small business enterprises and to individuals to enable them to setup or expand their business activities. Majority of the beneficiaries under this yojna are women.

Deendayal  Disabled  Rehabilitation  Scheme  (DDRS) is  a  central  sector  scheme which  aims  to  (i)  provide  grant-in-aid  to  non-governmental  organizations  (NGOs)  for projects  relating  to  rehabilitation  of  persons  with  disabilities  with  a  view  to  enabling persons  with  disabilities to  reach  and  maintain  their  optimal,  physical,  sensory, intellectual, psychiatric and socio-functional levels, (ii) create an enabling environment to ensure equal opportunities, equity, social justice and empowerment of persons with disabilities, and (iii) encourage voluntary action for ensuring effective implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

Incentives Scheme for Providing Employment to Persons with Disabilities in the Private  Sector :  As  per  the  Scheme,  Department  of  Empowerment  of  Persons  with Disabilities (DEPwD) will make payment of employers' contribution to the EPF and ESI for  10  years,  there  will  be  no  salary  ceiling  for  the  Persons  with  Disabilities  (PwD) employees and DEPwD will bear one-third of the gratuity amount due and admissible to PwD employees.

Prime  Minister  Awaas  Yojana  (PMAY-G )  aims  to  provide  'Housing  for  All'  through provision  of  pucca  house  with  basic  amenities  to  all  houseless  households  and households living in kutcha and dilapidated house in rural areas by 2022. This will also benefit the neglected, abandoned and destitute widows.

Pradhan  Mantri  Awaas  Yojana  (PMAY-U) is  a  Scheme  with  the  vision  to  facilitate Housing  for  All  by  2022.  Under  this  scheme,  central  assistance  is  provided  to States/UTs  in  addressing the  housing  requirement  of  Economically  Weaker  Sections (EWS) including slum dwellers in the urban areas.

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana -National Urban Livelihood Mission (DAY-NULM) is implemented  in  statutory  towns  to  reduce  poverty  and  vulnerability  of  urban  poor households, for improvement in their livelihoods on a  sustainable  basis. The mission provides  for  broadening  of  coverage  to  include  families  of  disadvantaged  groups  like SCs, STs, women, minorities, disabled, etc. subject to a maximum of 25 percent of the above urban poor population.

Atal  Pension  Yojana  (APY) is  implemented  with  an  objective  to  create  a  universal social security system for all Indians, especially the poor, under-privileged and workers in  the  unorganized sector. The scheme is open to all citizens of India between 18-40 years of age having a savings bank account in a bank or post office.

Integrated Programme for Older Persons aims to improve the quality of life of senior citizens, including women, by providing basic amenities like shelter, food, medical care and  entertainment  opportunities  and  by  encouraging  productive  and  active  ageing through  support  for  capacity  building  of  State/  UT  Governments/Non-Government Organizations (NGOs)/Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs)/ local bodies and the community at large.

Scheme for Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) : There are  certain  groups  among  Scheduled  Tribes  which  have  declining  or  stagnant population, low level of literacy, pre-agricultural level of technology and are economically backward. These groups are among the most vulnerable sections of our society as they are few in numbers, have not attained any significant level of social and economic development and generally inhabit remote localities having poor infrastructure and administrative support. 75 such groups in 18 States and one UT have been identified  and  categorized  as  Particularly  Vulnerable  Tribal  Groups  (PVTGs).  In 1998-99, a separate 100% Centrally Sponsored for exclusive development of PVTGs was started. Based on the knowledge and experiences gathered in implementation of the scheme, it has been revised with effect from 17.09.2019 to make it more effective.

(b)  and (c) Women who are victims of prostitution and human trafficking are covered under  Ujjawala  Scheme  of  the  Ministry.  The  scheme  inter-alia  provides  rehabilitation services  through  basic  amenities/needs  such  as  shelter,  food,  clothing,  medical treatment including counselling, legal aid and  vocational training and  facilitates reintegration of the victims into the family and society at large.

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