Year End Review-2022: Ministry of Women and Child Development Part-2

To know about Part 1, click here

MISSION SHAKTI

• Mission Shakti comprises of two sub-schemes ‘Sambal’ and ‘Samarthya’.

1. Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY)

• The Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) is a maternity benefit programme that was rolled out in 2017.
• Under PMMVY, a cash incentive of Rs. 5000 is provided directly to the pregnant women and lactating mothers for first living child of the family.
• The scheme has been expanded to provide maternity benefit amounting to Rs.6000, but only if the second child is a girl child in order to discourage pre- birth sex selection.
• The cash incentive will be provided in three instalments.
• It is aimed at improving health-seeking behaviour and to compensate for wage loss for pregnant women, particularly in the unorganised sectors.
• PMMVY is implemented using the platform of Anganwadi Services scheme of Umbrella ICDS under Ministry of Women and Child Development.

2. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP)

• The Government of India launched the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) in 2015 at Panipat in Haryana.
• It was initiated as a tri-ministerial effort of
  • Ministry of Women and Child Development
  • Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
  • Ministry of Human Resource Development
• Objectives
  • To prevent gender biased sex selective elimination
  • To ensure survival and protection of the girl child
  • To ensure education and participation of the girl child
  • To increase girl's participation in the fields of sports
• Targets
  • Improvement in Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) by 2 points every year
  • Improvement in the percentage of institutional deliveries or sustained at the rate of 95% or above
  • 1% increase in 1st Trimester ANC Registration per year
  • 1% increase in enrolment at secondary education level and skilling of girls/women per year.
  • To check dropout rate among girls at secondary and higher secondary levels
  • Raising awareness about safe menstrual hygiene management
• Components
  • Advocacy and Media Campaign on Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao
  • Multi-Sectoral intervention in selected Gender Critical Districts
• Achievement – There is an improvement of Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) at National level, from 918 in 2014-15 to 934 in 2021-22.

3. Betiyan Bane Kushal

• It is a National Conference that emphasizes the need for skill development of the girl child in non-traditional methods of livelihood.
• The conference held on 11th October 2022, was organised to mark the International Day of the Girl Child.

4. Nirbhaya Fund

• The Empowered Committee (EC) of Officers had appraised 3 projects for funding under Nirbhaya Fund.
• The fund is created in 2013, dedicated for implementation of initiatives aimed at enhancing the safety and security for women in the country.
• It is a non-lapsable corpus fund, being administered by Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.
• Schemes under Nirbhaya Fund
• One Stop Centre Scheme – Also known as “Sakhi Centres”, it aims at establishing centres to facilitate women affected by violence.
• It provides first aid, medical aid, police assistance, legal aid and counselling support.
• Mahila Police Volunteers (MPVs) – It will act as a link between police and community and help women in distress.
• Haryana has become the first state to start the Mahila Police Volunteer scheme.
• Universalisation of Women Helpline - Helpline specifically for women with a common number across the country will link the One Stop Centres.
• Abhaya Project - It is the proposed project in Andhra Pradesh for ensuring the safety of Women and Girl child during the transport.
• CHIRALI (Friends Forever) - This scheme is implemented in Rajasthan where community action groups are constituted under Gram Panchayats to provide enabling environment to support girls and women.

MISSION VATSALYA

1. Juvenile Justice Amendment Act

• The Juvenile Justice Model Amendment Rules, 2022 and Adoption Regulations, 2022 have been notified in 2022.
• The District Magistrates have now been made the nodal authority at district levels for all matters relating to child safety, empowerment and safety including issuance of adoption orders.
• Juvenile Justice - DMs and ADMs will also monitor the functioning of various agencies under the JJ Act in every district.
• These include the Child Welfare Committees (CWCs), Juvenile Justice Boards, District Child Protection Units and Special Juvenile Protection Units.
• Adoption - Changes have been made to the Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS) online platform for adoption.
• Those children who couldn’t find families within their stipulated referral cycles, are now being offered to prospective parents who are Indian residents, NRIs and OCI card holders irrespective of their seniority.
• If the child adjusts well with the foster family, it can adopt the child after 2 years of fostering (earlier, 5 years).

2. PM CARES for Children

• The PM CARES for Children Scheme was launched in 2021 to support children who have lost both the parents or legal guardian or adoptive parents or surviving parent to COVID-19 pandemic.
• The objective of the scheme is to
  • Ensure comprehensive care and protection of children in a sustained manner
  • Enable their well being through health insurance
  • Empower them through education and equip them for self-sufficient existence with financial support on reaching 23 years of age

3. GHAR - GO Home and Re-Unite (Portal for Restoration and Repatriation of Child)

• National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), has developed and launched a portal namely GHAR - GO Home and Re-Unite (Portal for Restoration and Repatriation of Child).
• The GHAR portal has been developed to digitally monitor and track the restoration and repatriation of children according to the protocol.
• Features
  • Digital tracking and monitoring of children who are in the Juvenile Justice system and have to be repatriated
  • Digital transfer of cases of children to the concerned Juvenile Justice Board/Child Welfare Committee of the State

ACTIVITIES UNDER AZADI KA AMRIT MAHOTSAV

1. Stree Manoraksha Project

• Stree Manoraksha Project was launched in collaboration with NIMHANS, Bengaluru with an aim to improve the mental health of women in India.
• The project would focus on building on capacity building of One-Stop Center functionaries on the tools and techniques as to how to handle the cases of women approaching the One-Stop Centres.

Nari Shakti Puraskar

• The President of India conferred Nari Shakti Puraskar-2020 and 2021 to outstanding women achievers in recognition of their exceptional work towards empowerment of women.
• It is formerly known as Stree Shakti Puraskar (“Woman Power Award").
• It is India's highest civilian award for recognizing the achievements and contributions of women.
• The awards are given away by the President of India every year on 8 March, International Women's Day at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.
• The Nari Shakti Puraskar is conferred on individual women, public and private institutions and public departments for their activism and/ or their contributions to the cause of women's empowerment.
• The award, instituted in 1999 is given in 6 institutional categories and 2 individual categories.
• The award carries a cash prize of rupees 1 lakh and a citation.

Reference

1. PIB | Year End Review-2022: Ministry of Women and Child Development