Lok Sabha Question No. 942 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-25
Subject: Empowerment of Women and  Childern's Development
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shri Ganesh Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 942

TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.07.2025

## EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN AND CHILDERN'S DEVELOPMENT

## †942.   SHRI GANESH SINGH:

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

- (a) the  details  of  the  key  achievements  of  the  Government  in  the  field  of  women empowerment, protection of child rights, nutrition and adolescent girl development from 2014 to till date, State-wise, particularly in Satna district in Madhya Pradesh;
- (b) whether the Government has adopted any localised strategy with regard to women safety, adolescent girl child education, nutrition and empowerment in such a tribal and socially diverse State;
- (c) if so, the details of such schemes being implemented in the said district along with the categories directly benefited therefrom;
- (d) whether the Government is considering to replicate best practices in aspirational districts and tribal dominated areas (like Bundelkhand, Vindhyakshetra) of the State and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) whether any MoU or result-based partnership has been initiated with the State for this purpose and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR)

(a) to (e) : The Government gives utmost priority to the safety, security and empowerment of  women in  the  country  including  Satna  district  and  tribal  dominated  areas  in  Madhya Pradesh. To this end, the Government has adopted multi-pronged approach to address the issue  of  welfare  of  women  on  a  life-cycle  continuum  basis  for  their  educational,  social, economic and political empowerment so that they become equal partners in the process of national development. This 'women led development' is essential for realising the goal of a developed India, or 'Viksit Bharat', by 2047.

For  better  implementation  and  efficient  monitoring,  all  Schemes  implemented  by  the Ministry including those for economic empowerment and welfare of women and children have been clubbed into three umbrella missions viz. (1) Mission Shakti, for safety, protection and empowerment of women; (2) Saksham Anganwadi & Poshan 2.0 for improving nutrition & health indicators in the country; and (3) Mission Vatsalya, for protection and welfare of children/girls in difficult circumstances. The details of the schemes are as under:

(i) Mission Shakti: The 'Mission Shakti' aims at strengthening interventions for women safety, security and empowerment. It seeks to focus on proposing strategies for improving convergence across Ministries/ Departments and at different levels of governance. Mission Shakti comprises of two verticals 'Sambal' and 'Samarthya' for safety and security of women and empowerment of women respectively.

The 'Sambal' vertical is for safety and security of women. It has the schemes of One Stop Centres  (OSCs),  Women  Helpline  (WHL),  Beti  Bachao  Beti  Padhao  (BBBP)  and  Nari Adalat.

- a. One Stop Centres (OSCs)An institution located at district level offering under one roof immediate help to women in distress such as temporary shelter, medical & police assistance, counselling and legal support.
- b. Women  Helpline  (WHL)The  Women  Helpline  181  provides  toll-free  24-hours telecom service to women seeking support and information. It is also integrated with Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) 112 for all emergency services and its integration with all One Stop Centres is in progress.
- c. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP)BBBP is a mindset change program helping in generating awareness for valuing the girl child through multi-sectoral interventions.
- d. Nari  AdalatAn  experimental  platform  providing  women  with  an  alternative Grievance Redressal Mechanism at Gram Panchayat level by negotiation, mediation, and reconciliation with mutual consent for speedy, accessible, and affordable justice.

The 'Samarthya' vertical is for empowerment of women. It has the schemes of Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), Shakti Sadan, Sakhi Niwas, Palna and SANKALP : Hub for Empowerment of Women (HEW).

- a. Pradhan  Mantri  Matru  Vandana  Yojana  (PMMVY)PMMVY  is  a  Centrally Sponsored Maternity  Benefits  Scheme under  which  cash  incentive  of  ₹5,000/-  is provided directly to the Bank/ Post Office account of the beneficiary in Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode for first child. Cash incentive of ₹6,000/- is also provided under PMMVY to eligible beneficiaries for second child being a girl child.
- b. Shakti SadanShakti Sadan is an Integrated Relief and Rehabilitation Home for the women in distress situations and difficult circumstances.
- c. Sakhi  NiwasThe  Sakhi  Niwas  Scheme  (Working  Women  Hostel)  is  a  demand driven centrally sponsored scheme, under which funds are released directly to the States/UTs  and  aims  to  promote  availability  of  safe  and  conveniently  located

accommodation for working women in urban, semi-urban and even rural areas where employment opportunity for women exist.

- d. PalnaPalna scheme through day-care créche facilities provides safe and secure place  for  the  children.  Creche  services  formalise  the  child  care  facilities  hitherto considered  as  part  of  domestic  work  and  uses  Aanganwadi  infrastructure  for ensuring delivery of care facilities till the last mile.
- e. SANKALP:  Hub  for  Empowerment  of  Women  (HEW)T he  SANKALP:  HEW serves as a vehicle to bridge the information and knowledge gap regarding schemes and facilities available for women. It also serves as a Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) for all components under Mission Shakti.

(ii) Saksham Anganwadi & Poshan 2.0 (Mission Poshan 2.0): Under this programme, Anganwadi Services Scheme, POSHAN Abhiyaan and Scheme for Adolescent Girls has been reorganized into 3 primary verticals: (i) Nutrition Support for children below the age of 6 years, Pregnant Women, Lactating Mothers and Adolescent Girls (14 -18 years); (ii) Early Childhood  Care  and  Education  [3-6  years]  and  (iii)  Anganwadi  Infrastructure  including modern, upgraded Saksham Anganwadi, for better nutritional delivery to end beneficiaries.

Directions  have  been  issued  to  States/UTs  to  co-locate  Anganwadi  Centres,  which  are running on rent without sufficient infrastructure, at nearby Primary Schools, where space is available.

Regular monitoring of growth parameters is essential for identifying children who may be malnourished and making timely interventions. Therefore, Anganwadi centres have been equipped with Growth Monitoring devices like infantometer, stadiometer, weighing scaleinfant, weighing scale - Mother & Child.

(iii)  Mission  Vatsalya: Mission  Vatsalya  (erstwhile  Child  Protection  Services  Scheme (ICPS)) is a Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  (CSS)  which  is implemented  through States/Union  Territories  (UTs)  to  deliver  services  for  better  outreach  and  protection  for Children in Need of Care and Protection (CNCP) and Children in Conflict with Law (CCL) which  include  Institutional  Care  and  Non-Institutional  Care  in  a  mission  mode  with  the objective to: (i) Support and sustain Children in difficult circumstances (ii) Develop contextbased solutions for holistic development of children from varied backgrounds (iii) Provide scope for green field projects for encouraging innovative solutions (iv) Cement convergent action by gap funding, if required.

The scheme also provides for emergency outreach services (24x7) for children in difficult circumstances through Child Helpline (1098).

The initiatives taken by the Ministry in the field of women empowerment, protection of child rights, nutrition and adolescent girl are as under:

## I. MISSION SHAKTI

-  Women  Helpline-  "One  Nation  One  Helpline" :  Women  Helpline  has  been operationalized  in  35  States/UTs  (except  West  Bengal)  and  integrated  with Emergency Response Support System (112) in all 35 States/UTs. Since inception in April, 2015, 88.24 lakhs women have been assisted till 31 st  May, 2025. Further, 574 One Stop Centres have been integrated with WHL till date for providing seamless helpline services to women and children.
-  Pradhan  Mantri  Matru  Vandana  Yojana  (PMMVY) :  Aadhar-based  biometric authentication (using FRS) has been introduced and made mandatory for all new enrolments  under  PMMVY  w.e.f.  21st  May,  2025.  This  is  being  implemented  by leveraging  the  Face  Recognition  System  (FRS)  module  available  on  the  Poshan Tracker.  Additionally,  PMMVY  application  now  includes  a  UIDAI  based  facial authentication (FaceAuth) feature that enables Aadhar-based biometric authentication directly through UIDAI servers. Any beneficiary can be authenticated using either of the two methods: FRS or FaceAuth.
-  A dashboard was launched for SANKALP: HEW to record the real-time tracking of  scheme  implementation  and  to  monitor  various  parameters  of  the  scheme including  the  number  of  women  assisted,  beneficiary  feedback,  and  impact assessment.
-  The Shakti  Sadan component  is  specifically  designed  to  cater  to  the  destitute women and those in difficult circumstances. Under Shakti Sadan component, one of the services provided is vocational training to the residents of such homes. Further, the  women  helpline  (181),  which  is  a  24  hours  emergency  and  non-  emergency response system available to women affected by violence, both in public and private spaces by linking them with appropriate authorities, also provide information about women welfare schemes and programs across the country.

## II. MISSION SAKSHAM ANGANWADI & POSHAN 2.0

-  Anganwadi Protocol for Management of Malnutrition at the Community Level (CMAM  Protocol) : For the first time, a standardised  national 'Protocol for Management  of  Malnourished  Children'  (CMAM  Protocol)  has  been  drafted  by MoWCD with inputs from  MoHFW, providing  detailed  steps  for  identification  and management of malnourished children at the Anganwadi level, including decisionmaking for referral, nutritional management and follow-up care. The protocol was launched on 10th October, 2023.
-  Millets  are  included  in  the  Supplementary  Nutrition  Programme :  In  Poshan Pakhwada  2023,  one  crore activities were carried out for  awareness  and popularisation of millets for health. Under the Poshan 2.0 Scheme guidelines, millets have to be mandatorily provided under Supplementary Nutrition once a week. Six region-wise diet charts have been developed for pregnant women, viz., North, NorthEast, West, South, East and Central.
-  Migration  facility  for  beneficiaries  from  one  AWC  to  another :  In  case  the beneficiary is registered at another AWC, she/he shall be migrated to the new AWC during  the  period  of  stay  through  the  migration  facility  in  the  Poshan  Tracker. Migration facility for beneficiaries from one AWC to another within and outside a State has been facilitated under the Poshan Tracker. Migration facility from one category to another category of beneficiary is also available.
-  Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi (PBPB) , launched on 10th May, 2023, is a pathbreaking ECCE program to help India develop the world's largest, universal, high-quality pre-

school network at Anganwadi Centres, in alignment with the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

-  MoU with Ministry of AYUSH : The Ministry signed an MoU with Ministry of AYUSH in  February  2024  for  the  nutritional  improvement  in  adolescent  girls  through Ayurveda interventions. Both the Ministries have entered into this MoU with the aim of nutritional improvement of approximately 77,225 adolescent girls in the Anaemia prone districts (where average prevalence of Anaemia is approx. 69.5%). This project will cover approximately 10,000 Anganwadi centres in the five districts.
-  PM  JANMAN :  A  total  number  of  2500  Anganwadi  Centres  (AWCs)  under  PMJANMAN  has  been  sanctioned  and  out  of  which  2055  AWCs  have  been operationalized till date across the country.

## III. MISSION VATSALYA

-  Protection  of  Children  from  Sexual  Offences  (POCSO)  Act,  2012  to  safeguard children  against  sexual  abuse  and  sexual  harassment,  was  amended  in  2019  to introduce more stringent punishment including death penalty for committing sexual crimes  on  children,  with  a  view  to  deter  the  perpetrators  &  prevent  such  crimes against children.
-  POCSO  Rules,  2020  were  notified  by  the  Ministry  to  protect  the  children  from exploitation/ violence and sexual exploitation. POCSO Rules under Rule-3 provides that  any  institution  housing  children  or  coming  in  regular  contact  with  children including schools, creches, sports academies or any other facility for children must ensure a police verification and background check on periodic basis, of every staff, teaching  or  non-teaching,  regular  or  contractual,  or  any  other  person  being  an employee of such Institution coming in contact with the child. Such Institution shall also ensure that periodic training is organized for sensitizing them on child safety and protection.
-  In  2023-2024,  the  Ministry  has  introduced  a  Centrally  Funded  Scheme  namely ' Scheme for Care and Support to Victims under Section 4 & 6 of the POCSO Act,  2012 '  under  Nirbhaya  Fund  to  address  the  challenges  faced  by  the  minor pregnant girl child victims for implementation by the State/ UT Governments.
-  Model Foster Care Guidelines 2024 were issued on 26.4.2024 and shared with the States/UTs.  The  guidelines  have  been  revised  in  the  light  of  amendment  in  the Juvenile  Justice  (Care  and  Protection)  Act  2015  and  Juvenile  Justice  (Care  and Protection of Children) Model Amendment Rules, 2022.
-  The revised guidelines have been framed to ensure clarity, efficiency and compliance amongst  stakeholders  about  Foster  Care  with  an  objective  to  facilitate  stay  of children in family-like settings instead of staying in Child Care Institutions for a long time.  The  guidelines  provide  procedural  clarity,  eligibility  conditions  and  detailed steps  for  administering  Foster  Care  and  such  Foster  Care  ultimately  leading  to Adoption by the same foster family who have kept the child in their care for a period of two years.

Further,  a  number  of  schemes/  projects  have  been/  are  being  implemented  by  the Government under 'Nirbhaya Fund' for enhancing the safety and security for women and girls in the country:

-  827  Anti-Human  Trafficking  Units  have  been  set  up  for  prevention  of  human trafficking and support to the victims.
-  To ensure that the Police Stations are more women friendly and approachable, as they would be the first and single point of contact for any woman walking into a police station, 14,658 Women Help Desks (WHDs) have been set up, of which 13,743 are headed by women.
-  Cyber Forensic cum Training Labs have also been established in 33 States/UTs with 24,264 person trained in handling cyber related cases.
-  To ensure that justice is delivered to unfortunate women and young girls who are victims  of  heinous  sexual  offences,  Government  has  been  providing  financial assistance to States/ UTs for setting up Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) since 2019.  As  on  30.04.2025,  790  Fast  Track  Special  Courts  (FTSCs)  have  been approved, out of which 746 including 405 exclusive POCSO (e-POCSO) courts are operational in 30 States/UTs, having disposed of a total of 3.25 lakhs cases of rape, and offences under POCSO Act across the country.
-  To ensure safety of public places where women work and live, sub-projects under the  Safe  City  Projects  have  been  implemented  in  8  Cities  (namely  Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai).
-  To  ensure  safe  transportation  for  women,  rail  and  road  transport  projects  like Integrated Emergency Response Management System (IERMS), Video Surveillance System  at  Konkan  Railway,  Artificial  Intelligence  (AI)  based  Facial  Recognition System (FRS) integrated with Video surveillance Systems, including Command-andControl  Centre  at  7  major  railway  stations  and  tabs  for  safety  of  lone  woman passenger  on  board  the  train  by  Ministry  of  Railways,  and  projects  like  Vehicle Tracking Platform with command and control centre across States/ UTs, and some State  specific  projects  like  Uttar  Pradesh  Road  transport  Corporation  (UPSRTC), Bengaluru  Metropolitan  Transport  Corporation  (BMTC),  Telangana  State  Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC), etc. by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, have been implemented.

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