Lok Sabha Question No. 867 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-07-26
Subject: Women Empowerment Programme
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shri Anurag Sharma

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 867 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.07.2024

## WOMEN EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMME

- 867 SHRI ANURAG SHARMA:

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

- (a) the  details  of  the  implementation,  impact  and  outcomes  so  far  of  women's empowerment programmes especially in Jhansi-Lalitpur region, specifying the measures  that  have  been  taken  to  ensure  women's  participation  in  local governance and economic activities;
- (b) the details of the measures proposed/taken to ensure women's participation in local governance and economic activities; and
- (c) the details of the outcomes thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI ANNPURNA DEVI )

(a)  to  (c):   The  Government  gives  utmost  priority  to  the  safety,  security  and empowerment  of  women  across  the  country  including  Jhansi-Lalitpur  region.  The Government has adopted multi-pronged approach on a life-cycle continuum basis to address  the  issue  of  women  for  their  educational,  social,  economic  and  political empowerment so that they lead the process of development of India.

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

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has been implementing the Umbrella Scheme named as 'Mission Shakti' during the 15 th  Finance Commission period  with  effect  from  the  financial  year  2022-23.  It  is  aimed  at  strengthening interventions for women safety, security and empowerment. It seeks to realise the Government's  commitment  for  'women-led  development'  by  addressing  issues affecting women on a life-cycle continuum basis. It focuses on strategies for improving convergence across Ministries/ Departments and at different levels of governance. It also seeks to promote greater participation and support of Panchayats and other local level governance bodies, apart from strengthening digital infrastructure support, last mile tracking and Jan Sahabhagita. Mission Shakti has two sub-schemes -'Sambal' and 'Samarthya'.

The  'Sambal'  sub-scheme  is  for  safety  and  security  of  women.  It  has  the components of One Stop Centres (OSCs), Women Helpline (WHL), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) and a new component of Nari Adalat.

The  'Samarthya'  sub  scheme  is  for  empowerment  of  women.  It  has  the components  of  Pradhan  Mantri  Matru  Vandana  Yojana  (PMMVY),  Shakti  Sadan, Sakhi Niwas, Palna and a new  component  of Gap  Funding  for  Economic Empowerment i.e. SANKALP : Hub for Empowerment of Women (HEW) 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.

The Anganwadi Services under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 is a universal, no-entry barriers scheme under which pregnant women and lactating mothers are eligible for the services including the Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP). Government has also implemented the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) which aims to provide cash incentive through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode to Pregnant Women & Lactating Mothers (PW&LM) for partial compensation for the wage loss so that the woman can take adequate rest before and after delivery and to  improve  health  seeking  behaviour.  The  scheme  also  seeks  to  promote  positive behavioural change towards girl child by providing additional cash incentive for the second child, if that is a girl child. Benefits have been extended to over 3.44 crore women through this scheme. Aslo, Palna, a sub-scheme is implemented in all States/ UTs to provide day care facilities and protection to children. The services of childcare have been extended through Anganwadi cum Crèche (AWCC) by way of enabling more and more mothers to work and the care givers to participate in the workforce.

In  2017,  the  Maternity  Benefit  Act  was  amended  to  increase  paid  maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for the first two children. This Act also provides for paid maternity leave to women workers and crèche facility within prescribed distance in all establishments having fifty or more employees. Depending upon the nature of work assigned to a woman, Section 5(5) of the Act also provides for work from home for woman after availing the maternity benefit for such period and on such conditions as the employer and the woman may mutually agree.

Besides, multiple initiatives for increasing participation of women in Science, Technology,  Engineering  and  Mathematics  (STEM)  have  also  been  undertaken. Vigyan Jyoti was launched in 2020 to balance low representation of girls in different streams  of  Science  and  Technology  from  9 th   to  12 th   standards.  The  Overseas Fellowship  Scheme  started  in  2017-18.  It  provides  opportunities  to  Indian  Women Scientist and Technologists to undertake international collaborative research in STEM. Several women scientists have played significant roles in India's maiden Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM),  or  Mangalyaan, including building and testing the scientific instruments at the Space Application Centre.

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,  e-Yantra, NEAT (National Education Alliance for Technology) etc. to ensure quality education through e-learning to students across the country. 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.

Pradhan  Mantri  Awaas  Yojana  -  Gramin  (PMAY-G)  Scheme  focuses  on woman ownership of houses and it has been decided that the allotment of house shall be made in the name of the woman or jointly in the name of the husband and wife, except in the case of a widower/ unmarried/ separated person/ transgender.

Construction of over 12.21 crore toilets under 'Swachh Bharat  Mission', clean cooking gas connections  to 10.33 crore women below poverty line under 'Ujjawala Yojana' and connecting over 14.99 crores rural household with tap drinking water connections  under  'Jal  Jeevan  Mission'  have  transformed  the  lives  of  women  by reducing the drudgery and care burden.

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. 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.  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.

Under  Deendayal  Antyodaya  Yojana  -  National  Rural  Livelihoods  Mission (DAY-NRLM),  nearly  10.18  crore  women  are  connected  with  around  91.57  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.

To ensure economic independence of women through skill development and vocational training, the Government has 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.

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. Other schemes include Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP), Samagra  Shiksha,  Babu  Jagjivan  Ram  Chhatrawas  Yojna,  Swacch  Vidyalaya Mission,  Swachchh  Bharat  Mission,  etc.  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.

India is promoting greater roles for girls in the armed forces. Government has also enabled provisions to allow women's participation in non-conventional sectors such  as  fighter  pilots  in  Indian  Air  Force,  Commandos,  Central  Police  Forces, admissions in Sainik Schools, entry of Girls in NDA etc. The Government has also taken initiatives to increase female participation in the civil aviation sector with the creation of women aviation professionals through a special focus on young schoolgirls, especially from low-income families. Globally, according to the International Society of Women Airline Pilots, around 5 per cent of pilots are women. In India, the share of women pilots is significantly higher.

There are schemes like Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana and Stand-Up India, Prime  Minister's  Employment  Generation  Programme  (PMEGP)  which  have  been launched for helping women set up their own enterprises. To economically empower women, 84% of loans of sizes from rupees ten lakh to rupees one crore under 'StandUp India' have been made available to women by the Government.

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.

In order to bring women in the mainstream of political leadership at the grass root  level,  Government  has  reserved  at  least  33%  of  the  seats  in  Panchayati  Raj Institutions (PRIs) for women through the 73 rd  amendment to the Constitution. Today, there are more than 14.50 lakh Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) in PRIs, which  is  approximately  46%  of  the  total  elected  representatives.  Government  is providing training to the EWRs from time to time to build on their capacity with a view to empowering women to participate effectively in the governance processes.

The  greatest  leap  forward  for  women  empowerment  and  representation  of women in  the  highest  political  offices  in  the  country  has  been  the  notification  by Government of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 (Constitution One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023 on 28 th  September, 2023, for reservation of onethird  of  seats  for  women  in  the  House  of  People  (Lok  Sabha)  and  in  the  State Legislative Assemblies including Legislative Assembly of NCT of Delhi.

As per Periodic Labour Force Survey, conducted by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the female labour force participation rate (usual status, age 15 years and above) has consistently increased from 23.3% in 2017-18 to 37.0% in 2022-23 as shown in the table below:

| Survey Period   |   Female Labour Force Participation Rate (%) (usual status, age 15 years and above) |
|-----------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2017-18         |                                                                                23.3 |
| 2018-19         |                                                                                24.5 |
| 2019-20         |                                                                                30   |
| 2020-21         |                                                                                32.5 |
| 2021-22         |                                                                                32.8 |
| 2022-23         |                                                                                37   |

This significant jump of 13.7% in the female labour force participation rate is an outcome  of  the  decisive  agenda  set  by  the  Government  for  ensuring  women's empowerment  through  policy  initiatives  aimed  at  their  long-term  socio-economic development to improve women's participation in the labour force and quality of their employment in the country.