Lok Sabha Question No. 548 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-09
Subject: Scheme for Digital Empowerment of Women
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Arvind Kumar Sharma, Shankar Lalwani, Bharatiben Dhirubhai Shyal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 548

TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.12.2022

## SCHEME FOR DIGITAL EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN

548.  DR. ARVIND KUMAR SHARMA: SHRI SHANKAR LALWANI: DR. BHARATIBEN DHIRUBHAI SHIYAL:

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

- (a) whether the Government has started any all India scheme to make women and girls empowered and skilled digitally for the cyber sector;
- (b) if so, the details and salient features of the scheme; and
- (c) the  steps  taken/  likely  to  be  taken  to  make  women  digitally  literate  across  the country?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (c) : The Government of India has taken various steps to ensure empowerment of women  and  girls  through  their  educational,  social,  economic  and  political  uplifting through  various  schematic  interventions.  The  Government  has  also  taken  several initiatives for digital literacy of citizen including women and girls so that they are able to operate digital devices (like computers, smart phones etc.) and work on it for various purposes including for educational, commercial and digital transaction purposes. One such initiative is 'Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA)'   under  Digital  India  programme.  It  aims  to  bridge  the  digital  divide specially  targeting  rural  population  including  the  marginalised  sections  of  society, women  and  girls  by  covering  6  crore  rural  households.  As  on  08.12.2022,  the percentage of women benefited under PMGDISHA is over 53% of total enrolled, over 54% of total trained and over 56% of total certified.

In addition, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education is administering 'National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology' (NMEICT) Scheme, SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring  Minds),  SWAYAM  PRABHA,  National  Digital  Library  (NDL),  Virtual  Lab,  eYantra,  NEAT  (National  Education  Alliance  for  Technology)  etc.  to  ensure  quality education through e-learning to students across the country.

Ministry of Women and Child Development has taken a number of initiatives to empower women through the schemes and programmes implemented  in the country. The  Ministry  has  formulated  'Mission  Shakti',  an  Integrated  Women  Empowerment Programme,  as  Umbrella  Scheme  for  the  Safety,  Security  and  Empowerment  of Women  for  implementation  during  the  15th  Finance  Commission  period.  It  aims  at strengthening  interventions  for  safety,  security  and  empowerment  of  women  in  a mission mode through institutional and convergence mechanism for greater efficiency, effectiveness and financial prudence.

The Umbrella Scheme  of Mission Shakti has two sub-schemes namely "Sambal" for  safety  and  security  of  women  and  "Samarthya" for  empowerment  of women. Under 'Samarthya' sub- scheme, a new component i.e. Hub for Empowerment of  Women  (HEW)  has  been  included with the aim to facilitate inter-sectoral convergence of schemes and programs meant for women at the Central, State/ UT and District levels for creating an environment in which women are able to realize their full potential.  The  support  under  the  HEW  provides  for  guiding,  linking  and  hand  holding women  to  various  institutional  and  schematic  set  ups  for  their  empowerment  and development including access to healthcare, quality education,  career and  vocational counseling/ training, financial inclusion, entrepreneurship, backward  and  forward linkages,  health  and  safety for  workers,  social  security  and digital  literacy  at  districts/ Blocks/ Gram Panchayats level across the country.

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