Lok Sabha Question No. 4087 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-24
Subject: Schemes for Women and Children
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Jamyang Tsering Namgyal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UN-STARRED QUESTION NO. 4087 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.03.2023

## SCHEMES FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN

4087.   SHRI JAMYANG TSERING NAMGYAL:

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

- a.  the  present  status  of  Integrated  Child  Development  Scheme  (ICDS)  and Women Empowerment Schemes being implemented in the UT of Ladakh;
- b.  the steps being taken to ensure complete food coverage in Anganwadi Centres for the boys/ girls and pregnant/lactating mothers in UT of Ladakh;
- c.  whether any task force has been constituted by the Government for proper planning of these schemes in UT of Ladakh and if so, the details thereof; and
- d.  the details of funds released/provided for these schemes in the last and the current budget?

## ANSWER

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

(a)         In  Ladakh, a total of 13 Projects and 1173 Anganwadi Centres have been sanctioned out of which all the Projects and 1138 Anganwadi Centres are operational. Under Anganwadi Services, a package of six services,  comprising  Supplementary nutrition; pre-school non-formal education; nutrition and health education; immunization;  health  check-up;  and  referral  services  are  provided  to  targeted beneficiaries i.e. all children below 6 years of age, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers.  Three  of  the  six  services  namely,  Immunization,  Health  Check-up  and Referral Services are delivered through Public Health Infrastructure under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

As  far  as  Schemes  related  to  women  empowerment  are  concerned,  the Sambal  Division  of  the  Ministry  implements  three  components  of  the  sub-scheme 'Sambal'  under  Umbrella  Scheme  'Mission  Shakti',  namely  One  Stop  Centre  and Universalization of Women Helplines for women across the country including UT of Ladakh. The details are as under:

One Stop Centre: Popularly known as Sakhi Centres, the One Stop Centre (OSC) component  is  being  implemented  across  the  country  since  1st  April  2015.  The objectives  of  the  One  Stop  Centre  Scheme  are  to  provide  integrated  support  and assistance to women affected by violence, both in private and public spaces under one roof and facilitate immediate, emergency and non-emergency access to a range of  services  including  medical  aid  &  assistance,  legal  aid  and  legal  counselling, temporary shelter upto 5 days, police facilitation, sycho-social counselling support to the women survivors / victims of violence and women in distress. As of now, 2 OSCs are operational in UT of Ladakh and upto December, 2022, 46 women have been assisted.

The Universalisation of Women Helpline (WHL) component is implemented since 1st April, 2015 with the aim to provide an   immediate and 24 hour emergency and non-emergency response to women affected by violence across the country by referral service. Under the Scheme, a toll-free 24-hours telecom service through short code 181 is provided to women seeking support and information.

Further, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) was launched on 22nd January, 2015 to address  the  declining  Child  Sex  Ratio  (CSR)  and  related  issues  of  women empowerment and aims to change mind-set to value girl child. In the XV Finance Commission period Scheme has been approved as a component of Sambal Subscheme of under Shakti and has been expanded to cover all the districts of the country through multi-sectoral interventions.

Under  the  newly  approved  Mission  Shakti, Swadhar  Greh for  women  in  difficult circumstances and Ujjawala Home for women victims of trafficking have been merged and renamed as Shakti Sadan which is an Integrated Relief and Rehabilitation Home for women in distress situations and difficult circumstances.

Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) is a centrally sponsored Scheme which is being implemented through State Governments/UT Administrations across the country including Ladakh UT since 01.01.2017. Before 2020-21, Ladakh has been included as a part of Jammu & Kashmir. Under PMMVY, payment of maternity benefits of ₹5,000/- in beneficiary's bank/post office account linked to her Aadhaar Number in Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode. The eligible beneficiary is entitled to receive the remaining  cash  incentive  as  per  approved  norms  towards  Maternity  Benefit  under Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) after institutional delivery so that on an average, a woman gets ₹6000/-. Under Mission Shakti, w.e.f. 01.04.2022, the maternity benefits of ₹6000 is also provided to beneficiaries for second child subject to condition that the second child is a girl in one instalment after the birth of the child.

(b)      In order to eradicate malnutrition among pregnant women and lactating mothers and children upto the age of 6 years, supplementary nutrition is provided as per the nutritional norms given below for 300 days in a year:

|   S.No. | Categories                                                                                                                                                                     | Types of food                                                                                                                                                                  |
|---------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|       1 | Children (0-6 months)                                                                                                                                                          | Exclusive Breast feeding for first 6 months of life.                                                                                                                           |
|       2 | Children (6-36 months)                                                                                                                                                         | Take Home Ration containing 500 calories of energy and 12-15 gms of protein in the form that is palatable to the child.                                                        |
|       3 | Severely mal-nourished children (6-36 months) Same type of food as above with food supplement of 800 calories of energy and 20-25 gms. of Protein.                             | Severely mal-nourished children (6-36 months) Same type of food as above with food supplement of 800 calories of energy and 20-25 gms. of Protein.                             |
|       4 | Children (3-6 years)                                                                                                                                                           | Morning snack in the form of milk/banana/ seasonal fruits etc. and Hot cooked Meal.                                                                                            |
|       5 | Severely mal-nourished children (3-6 years) Additional 300 calories of energy and 8-10 gms. of Protein in the form of micro-nutrient fortified food and/or energy dense food . | Severely mal-nourished children (3-6 years) Additional 300 calories of energy and 8-10 gms. of Protein in the form of micro-nutrient fortified food and/or energy dense food . |
|       6 | Pregnant women & Nursing mothers Take Home Ration in the form fortified food and/or energy                                                                                     | of micro-nutrient dense food .                                                                                                                                                 |

(c)        From time to time, Government has taken steps for strengthening Anganwadi Services.  These  include  provision  of  construction  of  Anganwadi  Centres  under Convergence with Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS),  provision  of  drinking  water  and  sanitation  facilities  at  AWCs  under Swachhta Action Plan (SAP), allocation of fortified rice under WBNP etc. There have been sustained engagements with State Governments/UT Administrations for review and  improvement  including  recent  interactions  to  discuss  implementation  related issues  to  strengthen  services.  Further,  Streamlined  Guidelines  were  issued  on 13.01.2021, covering several aspects such as quality assurance, roles and responsibilities  of  duty  holders,  procedure  for  procurement,  integrating  AYUSH concepts  and  data  management  and  monitoring  through  'Poshan  Tracker'  for transparency, efficiency and accountability in delivery of Supplementary Nutrition. The Ministry  of  Women  and  Child  Development  also  undertakes  regular  VCs  and meetings to review/monitor implementation of the above schemes.

- (d)       During the current financial year 2022-23, an amount of Rs.1876.57 lakhs has been released to the UT of Ladakh under Anganwadi Services.

An amount of Rs.30.00 lakhs was released during 2021-22 under One Stop Centre component.

At present, common Women helpline was operational in UTs of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. Upto December, 2022, 132573 calls have been handled.  An amount of Rs.65.76 lakhs was released during 2021-22 under Women Helpline component to J&K.

Under BBBP Scheme and Shakti Sadan Scheme, no fund has been released to the UT of Ladakh during the last and the current Financial Year.

Details of funds released to the UT Administration of Ladakh under PMVVY during the last year and current financial year is as follows:

|   2021-22 (Rs. in Lakh) |   2022-23 (Rs. in Lakh) (as on 23.03.2023) |
|-------------------------|--------------------------------------------|
|                   37.95 |                                      31.18 |

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