The Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing Centrally Sponsored Schemes in the country for the welfare of women and children, which are placed under three verticals, 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 in difficult circumstances.

(1) Mission Shakti: The ‘Mission Shakti’ aims at strengthening interventions for women’s 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 sub-schemes ‘Sambal’ and ‘Samarthya’ for safety and security of women and empowerment of women respectively.

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 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 SANKALP: Hub for Empowerment of Women (HEW). It is a demand driven Centrally Sponsored sub scheme, under which funds are released to the States/UTs for implementation of various components.

Further, SANKALP: HEW (Hub for Empowerment of Women) functions as a Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) for all components of Mission Shakti. It serves as a single window system to bridge the information and knowledge gap regarding schemes and facilities available for women as well as guide them to avail the benefits and entitlements.

Hub for Empowerment of Women (HEW) known as SANKALP: HEW (Supportive Action for Nurturing and Knowledge-Based Advancement, Last-Mile Delivery and Potential Realization of Women : Hub for Empowerment of Women), set up at National, State and District levels for empowerment of women with aims to facilitate inter-sectoral convergence of schemes and programs meant for women at Central, State/ UT and district levels with the mandate to create an environment in which women realize their full potential to address gaps in state action for women and for promoting inter-ministerial and inter-sectoral convergence through strengthening the processes that promote holistic empowerment of women by creating an environment conducive to social change by improving access and utilization of government schemes.

(2) Saksham Anganwadi & Poshan 2.0 (Mission Poshan 2.0): In the 15th Finance Commission, components of nutritional support for children below the age of 6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers, Adolescent Girls (14 – 18 years); Early Childhood Care and Education [3-6 years]; Anganwadi infrastructure including modern, upgraded Saksham Anganwadi, Poshan Abhiyaan and Scheme for Adolescent Girls have been reorganised under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 (Mission Poshan 2.0).

Under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, a package of six services are provided to the eligible beneficiaries i.e Supplementary Nutrition (SNP), Pre-school Non-Formal Education, Nutrition & Health Education, Immunization, Health Check-up, and Referral Services. Three of the six services, viz., Immunization, Health check-up and Referral Services are related to health and are provided through National Health Mission (NHM) & Public Health Infrastructure. Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 is a Centrally Sponsored scheme.

Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) is one of the six services provided through Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) located across the country under Anganwadi Services. ECCE component covers children aged 3–6 years who receive pre-school education at AWCs, while children aged 0–3 years are reached through structured home visits

(3) 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 context-based 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.

Further, the Department of School Education and Literacy is implementing an integrated centrally sponsored scheme for School education- Samagra Shiksha. The scheme treats school education holistically, without segmentation from pre-primary to class XII and aligned with the recommendations of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 with aim to ensure that all children have access to quality education with an equitable and inclusive classroom environment which should take care of their diverse background, multilingual needs, different academic abilities and make them active participants in the learning process. The scheme also provides support for the implementation of the RTE Act.

Under Samagra Shiksha, financial assistance is provided to States and UTs for undertaking various activities for Universalization of School Education including opening/strengthening of new schools upto senior secondary level, construction of school buildings & additional classrooms, development/strengthening of school infrastructure in northern border areas under Vibrant Village Programme, setting up, up-gradation and running of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, setting up of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Avasiya Vidyalayas, construction of hostels for PVTGs under Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM JANMAN), construction of hostels under Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan (DA-JGUA) for unsaturated ST population, free uniforms to eligible children and free text books at elementary level, transport allowance and undertaking enrolment & retention drives. Special training for age-appropriate admission of out of school children and residential as well as non-residential training for older children, seasonal hostels / residential camps, special training centres at worksites, transport/ escort facility are also supported to bring out of school children to the formal schooling system including support to complete their education through NIOS/SIOS. Under the student-oriented component for the children with special needs, financial assistance is provided for identification and assessment of children with special needs, aids and appliances, braille kits and books, appropriate teaching learning material and stipend to girl students with disability etc.

Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) are residential schools for girls belonging to Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Groups (SEDGs) such as Schedule Tribe, Schedule Caste, Other Backward Class, Economically Weaker Section of the society in Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs). The objective of the scheme is to ensure access to quality education for girls from SEDGs and reduce the gender gap at the elementary to senior secondary level by setting up residential schools with boarding facilities

This information was given by the Minister of State for Women and Child Development Smt. Savitri Thakur in Lok Sabha in reply to a question.

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