A&N Administration committed to provide social security to women & children through various schemes: Lt Governor
Port Blair, June 20: The Ministry of Women & Child Development, Govt. of India organized a Sub Zonal Meet on 8 Years of Achievement- the impact on women and children in the auditorium of Tagore Government College of Education here today which was participated by representatives from States/UTs of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry and host A&N Islands. The meet was chaired by Dr Munjpara Mahendrabhai, Hon’ble Minister of State, Women & Child Development and AYUSH in the august presence of the Admiral D K Joshi, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, NM, VSM (Retd.), Hon’ble Lt Governor, A&N Islands and Vice Chairman, Islands Development Agency.
In his keynote address, the Hon’ble Minister of State, Women and Child Development and AYUSH said, “as part of holistic development of the nation, women & child development has been of paramount importance to the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi and we have gathered here today to celebrate the achievements of our goals under his guidance”. With 8 years of tireless commitment and the drive to promote, protect and empower women and children of this nation, the Govt. has made several first hand policy interventions which have borne fruitful results, said the Minister. The Ministry of Women and Child Development is dedicated to working towards protecting women and girl child from violence and discrimination, he said.
The Minister stated that 708 One Stop Centres have been operationalized in India since 2015 to provide integrated support and assistance under one roof to women affected by violence. Over 5.2 lakh women have been assisted by these Centres which are being supported through Women Helpline Service and over 70 lakh calls related to women in distress have been addressed. A total of 971 Working Women’s Hostels have been built which are benefitting about 75 thousand working women all over the country since 2017. The Nirbhaya Fund constituted by the Centre has supported 34 new projects/schemes with targeted interventions taking the total amount to nearly Rs.10,000 crore. The purpose of the fund is to enhance protection and security to women and make the public spaces safer for them, the Minister said.
Dwelling upon PMMVY, the Minister said, cash incentives are provided to pregnant and lactating mothers for supplementing maternal nutrition and dietary diversification, thereby promoting better health among women. Under this, more than 2.78 cr beneficiaries have been enrolled and more than 2.47 cr. beneficiaries have been paid maternity benefit amounting to nearly Rs.10,793.34 cr. He remarked that the introduction of National Crèche Scheme for children of working mothers in 2017 has helped countless working women by providing day care facilities to children. This has provided respite for working women and takes a step closer to achieving holistic empowerment and promoting income generation among women.
The Minister further mentioned that the Government gives utmost priority to ensure gender equality in all spheres of life and has taken several steps to ensure that women do not face any gender based disadvantage.
The Minister informed that the foundation of all the learnings are laid during early years from 0 to 8 years and good quality early childhood education and early childhood development programmes have helped in reducing the chance of drop outs and repetitions, thereby improving the outcome at all level of education. The Beti Bachao Beti Padao campaign has increased awareness and sensitized the masses on gender equality, said the Minister. This has yielded tangible results in the area of sex ratio at birth. Gross enrollment ratio of girls in schools at secondary level has increased more than that of boys. Over 6 lakh children have been assisted through child protection service schemes. He said, nutrition is the focal point of health and wellbeing which is directly linked to human resource development, productivity and ultimately leads to national growth. In the last 5 years, the Ministry has distributed nearly 12 lakhs growth monitoring devise, 11 lakhs smart phones to Anganwadi workers and rolled out Poshan Tracker to improve governance to identify and ensure the treatment of malnourished children.
Touching upon women centric interventions/schemes implemented by Govt. for welfare of women and children, the Minister said, schemes and initiatives such as Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana has provided financial support mechanism for women entrepreneurs. About 68% of Mudra accounts are in the name of women, which, he said, is an indication that women have been in the right direction for women related income generating activities. The Stand Up India scheme has been monumental in alleviating women from financial constraints for setting up a green field enterprise in manufacturing and agriculture and allied sectors, he said. PM Jan Arogya Yojana has provided health care service to women households, thus expanding the idea of Aatmanirbhar Bharat for women households. The Minister stated that the goals of all these schemes and efforts remains in ensuring balance nutrition for women and children, assuring empowerment, safety and protection of women and children under three umbrella visions viz. Poshan Abhiyan, Mission Shakti and Mission Vatsalya.
With the support of State and inter-ministerial Department, it is aimed to ensure balanced and sustained growth and development for women and children for holistic national growth, said the Minister adding that as we celebrate 8 years of achievement under the aegis of Hon’ble Prime Minister, we need to continue to support and recognize incredible role played by women and children in the future of our nation.
The Lt Governor in his address on the occasion expressed his happiness that A&N Islands got an opportunity to host the Sub- Zonal Meet. He stated that A&N Administration is committed towards providing better health, nutrition, education, economic empowerment, gender equality, security, protection and shelter for women & children through different schemes. He mentioned that Administration is ensuring complete nutrition, health check up, growth monitoring and referral services to children through 719 Anganwadi Centres functioning in A&N Islands. The Administration has also taken various initiatives for upgrading all the Anganwadi Centres as ‘Shaksham Anganwadi Centres’ in a phased manner as per the laid down guidelines of the Ministry, the Lt. Governor said. The cases of malnutrition among children below 6 years of age in the Islands have declined due to effective implementation of ‘Poshan Abhiyan’, the Lt Governor stated.
The Lt Governor informed that as per the report of Universal Immunization programme, all the children have been completely vaccinated. To minimize the mother and child mortality rate, the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana has been successfully implemented in Isles through which 99 percent Institutional Delivery has been ensured, the Lt Governor said.
The Lt Governor further stated that due to better implementation of law, social evils like dowry, domestic violence and sexual assault are nil in A&N Islands. Timely assistance is being provided to women in distress through ‘One Stop Centre’ who are facing atrocities. Significant success has been achieved in making A&N Islands a crime free state for children and in this direction, the A&N Administration is working constantly with UTCPCR, CWC, JJB and Civil Societies, the Lt Governor said. To provide a safe environment for destitute children, 11 Child Care Institutions are functioning to take care of them. Due to such efforts, the number of destitute children, child labour and beggars are nil in A&N Islands, the Lt Governor stated. The Lt Governor remarked that children are the future of our Country and for their better future, quality education is being provided through 471 schools spread across the Islands. Scholarship and financial assistance are also provided to poor and needy students, the Lt Governor said.
During the programme, Shri Dhrijesh Tiwari, Statistical Adviser, MWCD gave a presentation on 8 years of achievements of Ministry of Women and Child Development- impact on women and children. A video on schemes related to women and child development viz. POSHAN Abhiyan, OSC, BBBP, PMMVY, etc. were screened for the gathering. On the occasion, women beneficiaries also shared their experiences on various schemes like Health, Mudra, Start Up, MWCD Schemes. Student beneficiaries also shared their experiences and the benefit of the schemes like Beti Bachao Beti Padao (BBBP), Education, JJ Act, Scholarship schemes etc. implemented by the Govt. for the holistic development of students. The panel was moderated by Smti. Aditi Das Rout, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development. An interaction with Child Care Institutions and Civil Society Organization dealing with women related schemes was also held. The Minister also ascertained on ground from each beneficiary who shared their experiences regarding the impact of the schemes in their lives and how well they have been benefited from such schemes and their aspirations for the future.
Videos on Poshan, One Stop Centre, PMMVY, BBBP were also screened on the occasion. Representative from UN Women gave a presentation on ‘Financial Inclusion and Economic Empowerment of Women’ while representative from UNICEF highlighted on ‘Impact on children over the last 8 years’.
Earlier, the Commissioner-cum-Secretary (WCD/Social Welfare), A&N Administration, Shri Santosh D Vaidya welcomed the gathering and briefed about the implementation of the schemes related to women and child development in A&N Islands. The programme concluded with the vote of thanks proposed by Secretary (WCD/Social Welfare), A&N Administration, Ms Veditha Reddy. The meet was also attended by Heads of Zilla Parishad, South Andaman, PBMC & Panchayats, International Agencies like UNICEF and Civil Society Organizations
Women SHG Mela was also organized as part of the programme. The dignitaries also visited the stalls put up by women SHGs.
Later in the evening, the Minister visited National Memorial Cellular Jail.