Lok Sabha Question No. 2102 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-15
Subject: District Level Centres for Women
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Dileshwar Kamait

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2102

TO BE ANSWERED ON 15.12.2023

## DISTRICT LEVEL CENTRES FOR WOMEN

## 2102.  SHRI DILESHWAR KAMAIT:

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

- (a) whether the Government has established District Level Centres for Women (DLCW) in all the districts of Bihar, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether  the  task  forces  that  were  set  up  at  National/State/district  level  for monitoring and course correction have been effective in tackling implementation issues, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether all of these DLCWs in the said State are currently functional, if not, the reasons therefor;
- (d) the number of women reached for awareness campaigns and other activities of these DLCWs in the said State during the COVID-19 pandemic; and
- (e) the funds released for the State of Bihar under this scheme since its inception, year-wise?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (d) : The Mahila Shakti Kendra (MSK) Scheme was approved in November, 2017 as a centrally sponsored scheme to empower rural women through community participation. A third party evaluation study of MSK scheme was conducted by NITI Aayog in 2020. Taking into account the findings of the evaluation and in consultation with States/ UTs and stakeholders, the scheme has been discontinued with effect from 01.04.2022. Total number of 640 District Level Centres for Women (DLCWs) were approved  under  the  erstwhile  Mahila  Shakti  Kendra  (MSK)  Scheme  including  38 DLCWs in the State of Bihar.

The Government of India has launched 'Mission Shakti' - an integrated women empowerment  programme  as an umbrella scheme for safety, security and empowerment of women for greater efficiency, effectiveness and financial prudence. The Umbrella Scheme of Mission Shakti has two sub-schemes namely "Sambal" and "Samarthya".

Benefiting  from  the  learning  from  implementation  of  earlier  scheme,  appropriate provisions have been incorporated under a new component of 'Samarthya' subscheme of  'Mission  Shakti'  i.e.  Hub  for  Empowerment  of  Women  (HEW),  which  envisage setting up National, State and District level Hubs for empowerment of women. HEW aims  to  facilitate  inter-sectoral  convergence  of  schemes  and  programs  meant  for women at the central (NHEW), State/ UT (SHEW) and district (DHEW) levels with the mandate to create an environment in which women 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.

(e) : Year-wise details of funds released for the State of Bihar under erstwhile MSK scheme since its inception are as under:

| States/ UTs   | Funds released (Rupees in lakh)   | Funds released (Rupees in lakh)   | Funds released (Rupees in lakh)   | Funds released (Rupees in lakh)   | Funds released (Rupees in lakh)   |
|---------------|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
|               | 2017-18                           | 2018-19                           | 2019-20                           | 2020-21                           | 2021-22                           |
| Bihar         | 1022.20                           | 25.83                             | 48.62                             | 0.00                              | 0.00                              |

Further, the Government has released a sum of Rs.305.01 lakhs to the State of Bihar during the year 2022-23 for implementation of the component of HEW at State and District levels.

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