Lok Sabha Question No. 3807 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-11
Subject: Schemes for Making Women Self-reliant
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Vivek Narayan Shejwalkar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3807

TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.08.2023

## SCHEMES FOR MAKING WOMEN SELF-RELIANT

## 3807. SHRI VIVEK NARAYAN SHEJWALKAR :

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

- (a) the names of the schemes being implemented in coordination with the Central and State Governments to make women self-reliant;
- (b) the details of the facilities being provided by the Government to the women to set up industries;
- (c) the details of the schemes being implemented in Madhya Pradesh and whether the said schemes are giving expected outcomes, if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the progress of the said schemes in Gwalior district?

## ANSWER

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

(a)  to  (d):   The  Government  gives  utmost  priority  to  the  safety,  security  and empowerment of women including rural women. The Government has adopted multipronged approach to address the issue of women on a life-cycle continuum basis for their educational, social, economic and political empowerment to make women selfreliant  so  that  they  become  equal  partners  in  fast  paced  and  sustainable  national development.

In  the  past  few  years,  a  number  of  initiatives  have  been  taken  for  holistic development and empowerment of women in the country including Madhya Pradesh.

The initiatives like Samagra Shiksha, Scholarship schemes, Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas  Yojna,  Swacch  Vidyalaya  Mission,  etc. ensure  that  schools  are  girlfriendly especially  for  vulnerable  sections  of  society  and  have  adequate  facilities  in place to fulfill their special requirements.

The  Government  of  India  has  launched  the  'Pradhan  Mantri  Gramin  Digital Saksharta Abhiyan' (PMGDISHA) to usher in digital literacy in rural India by covering 6 Crore rural households (one person per household). The Scheme aims to bridge the digital divide, specifically targeting the rural population including marginalized sections of  society  like  SC/ST,  minorities,  persons  falling  below  poverty  line,  women  and differently abled.

Under  the  Pradhan  Mantri  Vidya  Lakshmi  Karyakram,  Vidya  Lakshmi  Portal (VLP) has been launched by the Government to ensure that students avail education loans easily through single window system of banks. All Public Sector Banks (PSBs) have been on-boarded on the Portal.

In  order  to  enhance  the  employability  of  female  workers,  the  Government  is providing training to them through a network of Women Industrial Training institutes, National Vocational Training Institutes and Regional Vocational Training Institutes.

To ensure economic independence of women through skill development and vocational  training,  the  Government  has  also  introduced  Skill  India  Mission.  The National  Skill  Development  Policy  focuses  on  inclusive  skill  development,  with  the objective of increased women participation for better economic productivity. Government has also set up the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana across the country. Emphasis has been laid on creating additional infrastructure both for training and apprenticeship for women; flexible training delivery mechanisms such as mobile training units, flexible afternoon batches along with  on  local  need-based  training  to  accommodate  women;  and  ensuring  safe  and gender  sensitive  training  environment,  employment  of  women  trainers,  equity  in remuneration, and complaint redressal mechanism.

In order to encourage employment of women, a number of enabling provisions have been incorporated in Labour Codes viz. the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 and the Code on Social Security, 2020 for creating congenial work environment for women workers.

There  are  schemes  like Pradhan  Mantri  Mudra  Yojana  and  Stand-Up  India, Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) have been launched for helping women set up their own enterprises. To economically empower women, 81% of loans of sizes from rupees ten lakh to  rupees one crore under  'Stand-Up India' have been  made  available  to  women  by  the  Government.   Similarly,  under   flagship, 'MUDRA' (or Prime Minister's Micro-Units Development & Refinance Agency) scheme, 68% loans sized up to rupees ten lakh  have been sanctioned to women-owned and operated enterprises.

Under one of the largest financial inclusion programmes in the world, PM Jan DhanYojana has benefited more than 27 crore women, mostly in rural areas to open their own bank accounts.

With  special  attention  towards  entrepreneurship,  Government  of  India  has played a key role in the facilitation and disbursement of a large number of loans to small women-led  enterprises  ensuring  that  women  become  a  vital  force  in  the  country's burgeoning start-up ecosystem supported under the Start-up India.

The Government of India implements various schemes / programmes for welfare of women/ girls in which community participation plays an important role. Under National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), nearly 9.0 crore women are connected with around 83 lakh women's self-help groups that are transforming rural socio-economic landscape in  several  innovative  and  socially  and  ecologically  responsible  ways,  also  availing governmental support  including  through  collateral  free  loans.  The  Mahatma  Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA) mandates that at least one third of  the  jobs generated under the scheme (MGNREGS) should be given to women.

National Agriculture Market or e-NAM, an online trading platform for agricultural commodities  is  helping  women  overcome  or  compensate  the  barriers  they  face  in accessing markets. National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) is playing a significant role to uplift women cooperatives as large number of women are engaged and involved in cooperatives dealing with activities related to food grain processing, plantation  crops,  oilseeds  processing,  fisheries,  dairy  &  livestock,  spinning  mills, handloom and power loom weaving, Integrated Cooperative Development Projects, etc.

Most of the nearly 3 crore houses sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana are either in the name of women or in the joint name. All this has increased the participation of women in financial decision making.

The Anganwadi Services under Mission Poshan 2.0 is a universal scheme under which pregnant women and lactating mothers are eligible for the services including the Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP). For partial compensation of wages and for promoting  health  seeking  behavior  among  pregnant  women  and  lactating  mothers, Government has implemented Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) which aims to promote appropriate practice, care and institutional service utilization during pregnancy, delivery and lactation by providing cash incentives in Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode to pregnant and lactating mothers. Benefits have been extended to around 3.3 crore women through this scheme.

Through the 73 rd  amendment to the Constitution of 1/3 rd  seats in the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) have been reserved for women. However, today there are more than 14.50 lakh Elected  Women  Representatives (EWRs)  in PRIs, which is approximately 46% of the total elected representatives. The Government is providing training to the EWRs from time to time to build on their capacity.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development implements 'Mission Shakti', an Integrated Women Empowerment Programme, as Umbrella Scheme for the Safety, Security  and  Empowerment  of  Women.  The  'Mission  Shakti'  has  two  sub-schemes namely "Sambal" for safety and security of women and "Samarthya" for empowerment of women.  Under  'Samarthya' subscheme,  a new  component  i.e. Hub  for Empowerment of Women (HEW) has been included with the aim to facilitate  intersectoral 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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