KNOW MORE TO BE MORE

About Women Empowerment Schemes

In its last edition, ‘We The Women’ brought for you about the rights ensured to us, women and the safeguards provided, in order to take a small but crucial step towards lesser crime-against-women. This week we are stepping up towards the ultimate goal of Women Empowerment, which means empowering each woman physiologically, socially and economically. So here we are with yet another compilation of information regarding various Government Schemes, both at centre and state level. Even if you are fortunate enough to not have any requirement to avail such schemes, it could help you to help other women around you who need it but are clueless. While some of these schemes are well established, others are either at their pilot stage or still evolving. Let’s continue to get familiar with them.

BETI BACHAO BETI PADHAO SCHEME
The issue of decline in the Child Sex Ratio is a major indicator of women disempowerment as it reflects both, pre-birth discrimination manifested through gender biased sex selection, and post birth discrimination against girls (in form of their health, nutrition, educational needs). BBBP Scheme is projected as an instrument to eradicate such discrimination and make CSR balanced, by coordinated and convergent efforts embodied in BBBP Scheme to ensure survival, protection and education of the girl child.
The ‘Implementation Guidelines for State Governments/ UT Administrations’ published in February 2018 states the objective of BBBP Scheme as:
“The Overall Goal of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme is to celebrate the girl child and enable her education. The objectives of the Scheme are as under:
i. To prevent gender biased sex selective elimination
ii. To ensure survival and protection of the girl child
iii. To ensure education and participation of the girl child”

INDIRA GANDHI MATRITVA SAHYOG YOJANA (IGMSY)
IGMSY is a new scheme for Pregnant Ladies and Nursing Mothers. It is a conditional maternity benefit scheme where in a cash incentive of Rs. 6000/- in two installments will be provided directly to women 19 years and above for the first two live birth subject to the women fulfilling specific condition relating to maternal child health and nutrition. Cash incentive will be provided in three instalments between the second trimesters of pregnancy till the infant completes 6 months of age. At present the scheme is being implemented in two districts in State on pilot basis i.e Kathua and Anantnag
Objectives of the scheme is to improve the health and nutrition status of pregnant ladies, nursing mothers and infants by:
(i) Promoting appropriate practices, care and service utilization during pregnancy, safe delivery and lactation.
(ii) Encouraging the women to follow (optimal) IYCF practices including early and exclusive breast feeding for the first six months.
(iii) Contributing to better enabling environment by providing cash incentives for improved health and nutrition to pregnant ladies and nursing mothers.

The scheme aims to provide partial compensation for the wage loss so that the women is not under compulsion to work till the last stage of pregnancy and can take adequate rest before and after the delivery.


ONE STOP CENTRE SCHEME

One Stop Centre is formulated to curb ‘Gender-Based Abuse’, which according to Article 1 of UN Declaration on the ‘Elimination of Violence 1993’ means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. This is apparently required in our society where GBA has many manifestations; from the more universally prevalent forms of domestic and sexual violence including rape, to harmful practices such as, dowry, honor killings, acid attacks, witch-hunting, sexual harassment, child sexual abuse, trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation, child marriage, sex selective abortion, sati etc. Other than these, India is also grappling with violence due to inequities in social life more particularly in times of displacement and communal incidents.

The objectives of the Scheme as given in ‘Implementation Guidelines For State Governments/UT Administrations’ published in August, 2016 are:
(i) To provide integrated support and assistance to women affected by violence, both in private and public spaces under one roof.
(ii) To facilitate immediate, emergency and non-emergency access to a range of services including medical, legal, psychological and counselling support under one roof to fight against any forms of violence against women


WOMEN HELPLINE SCHEME
Under the WHL Scheme, the States/UTs will utilise or augment their existing women helplines through a dedicated single national number. Department of Telecommunication, Government of India has allocated short code 181 to all States/UTs which is being used by some States/UTs such as Delhi, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh as Women Helpline. Under WH Scheme, all States/UTs need to adopt this short code 181 as Women Helpline (WHL).

The objectives of the Scheme ‘Implementation Guidelines For State Governments/UT Administrations’ published in July, 2016 are:
(i)To provide toll-free 24-hours telecom service to women affected by violence seeking support and information.
(ii) To facilitate crisis and non-crisis intervention through referral to the appropriate agencies such as police/Hospitals/Ambulance services/District Legal Service Authority (DLSA)/Protection Officer (PO)/OSC.
(iii) To provide information about the appropriate support services, government schemes and programmes available to the woman affected by violence, in her particular situation within the local area in which she resides or is employed.

UJJAWAL
It is a comprehensive Scheme for Prevention of trafficking and Rescue, Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Victims of Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation, as clearly put down in the Objective of the Scheme:
(i) To prevent trafficking of women and children for commercial sexual exploitation through social mobilization and involvement of local communities, awareness generation programmes, generate public discourse through workshops/seminars and such events and any other innovative activity.
(ii) To facilitate rescue of victims from the place of their exploitation and place them in safe custody.
(iii) To provide rehabilitation services both immediate and long-term to the victims by providing basic amenities/needs such as shelter, food, clothing, medical treatment including counselling, legal aid and guidance and vocational training.
(iv) To facilitate reintegration of the victims into the family and society at large
(v) To facilitate repatriation of cross-border victims to their country of origin.


WORKING WOMEN HOSTEL
The objective of Working Women Hostel scheme is
(i) To promote availability of safe and conveniently located accommodation for working women, with day care facility for their children, wherever possible, in urban, semi urban, or even rural areas where employment opportunity for women exist.
(ii) To assist projects for construction of new hostel buildings, expansion of existing hostel buildings and hostel buildings in rented premises.
The working women’s hostel projects being assisted under this scheme shall be made available to all working women who may be single, widowed, divorced, separated, married but whose husband or immediate family does not reside in the same city/area, without any distinction with respect to caste, religion, marital status etc., provided their gross income does not exceed Rs. 50,000/- consolidated (gross) per month in metropolitan cities, or Rs 35,000/- consolidated (gross) per month, in any other place and subject to norms prescribed under the scheme. Particular preference may be given to women from disadvantaged sections of the society. While the projects assisted under this scheme are meant for working women, women under training for job may also be accommodated in such hostels subject to the condition that taken together, such trainees should not occupy more than 30% of the total capacity the hostel and they may be accommodated in the hostels only when adequate numbers of working women are not available. Children of working women, up to the age of 18 years for girls and up to the age of 5 years for boys may be accommodated in such hostels with their mothers.
SWADHAR Greh
This scheme aims to cater Women in difficult circumstances.
The scheme envisions a supportive institutional framework for women victims of difficult circumstances so that they could lead their life with dignity and conviction. It envisages that shelter, food, clothing, and health as well as economic and social security are assured for such women. It also envisions that the special needs of these women are properly taken care of and under no circumstances they should be left unattended or abandoned which could lead to their exploitation and desolation.
Under the Scheme , Swadhar Greh will be set up in every district with capacity of 30 women
with the following objectives:
(i) To cater to the primary need of shelter, food, clothing, medical treatment and care of the women in distress and who are without any social and economic support.
(ii) To enable them to regain their emotional strength that gets hampered due to their encounter with unfortunate circumstances.
(iii) To provide them with legal aid and guidance to enable them to take steps for their readjustment in family/society.
(iv) To rehabilitate them economically and emotionally.
(v)To act as a support system that understands and meets various requirements of women in distress.
(vi) To enable them to start their life afresh with dignity and conviction.


SUPPORT TO TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMME FOR WOMEN (STEP)

STEP Programme is curated to address special situation of poor women and women in remote areas who are not in a position to move out of their immediate surroundings and go to a formal skill centre to acquire training. Training is provided to poor and marginalized women in traditional trades which are largely in the informal sector. The programme strives to build upon the traditional knowledge of women and convert it into sustainable livelihood capacitation.

The scheme has 2 fold objectives viz.
a. To provide skills that give employability to women.
b. To provide competencies and skills that enable women to become self-employed/entrepreneurs.

MAHILA SHAKTI KENDRAS (MSK)

Mahila Shakti Kendra (MSK) is a new sub-scheme under the Umbrella Scheme Pradhan Mantri Mahila ShashaktikaranYojana (PMMSY) has been approved for implementation during 2017-18 upto 2019-20.
The new scheme MSK is envisaged to work at various levels. While, National level (domain based knowledge support) and State level (State Resource Centre for Women) structures will provide technical support to the respective governments on issues related to women, the District and Block level Centers will provide support to MSK and also give a foothold to women empowerment schemes including BBBP in 640 districts to be covered in a phased manner. Community engagement through Student Volunteers is envisioned in 115 most backward districts as part of the MSK Block level initiatives. Student volunteers will play an instrumental role in awareness generation regarding various important government schemes/ programmes as well as social issues that have an imp[act on lives of women in a given block (or equivalent administrative unit, when such blocks are not in place).
The Scheme will provide an interface for rural women to approach the government for availing their entitlements and for empowering them through awareness generation, training and capacity building. Student volunteers will encourage the spirit of voluntary community service and gender equality. These student volunteers will serve as "agents of change" and have a lasting impact on their communities and the nation.

MAHILA POLICE VOLUNTEERS
The objective of the scheme states, “An MPV will serve as a public-police interface in order to fight crime against women. The broad mandate of MPVs is to report incidences of violence against women such as domestic violence, child marriage, dowry harassment and violence faced by women in public spaces. She will act as a role model for the community.” It also provides that an MPV is an honorary position.
MPVs are envisaged as empowered, responsible, socially aware women for fostering leadership in local settings to facilitate police outreach on gender concerns. They will be an interface between society and the police.

MAHILA E-HAAT
Mahila E-Haat is a web based marketing platform to the women entrepreneurs/SHGs/ NGOs to showcase the products / services which are made/manufactured/ undertaken by
them and directly sell to the buyers. It is an initiative which leverages technology for supporting women entrepreneurs, keeping in mind that technology is a critical component for business efficiency and also, to make it available to the majority of Indian women entrepreneurs / SHGs / NGOs with a motive to meet the aspirations and needs of women.

This unique e-platform is expected to strengthen the socio-economic empowerment of women and support 'Make in India' through online marketing platform.

KISHORI SHAKTI YOJNA (KSY)
Kishori Shakti Yojna was launched in the year 2006-07 for the adolescent girls the age group of 11-18 years to empower the adolescent girls so as to enable them to take charge of their lives. The scheme comprised of two sub schemes i.e. Girl to Girl approach for Adolescent girls in the age group 11-15 years and Balika Mandal to reach Adolescent Girls in the age group 11-18 years.

The main objective of the scheme is to
(i) Improve nutritional and health status of girls the age group of 11-18 years.
(ii) Provide the required literacy and numerate skills through the non-formal stream of education, to stimulate a desire for more social exposure and knowledge and to help them to improve their decision making capabilities.
(iii) To train and equip the beneficiary with home based and vocational skills.
(iv)Gain a better understanding of their environment related social issues and the impact on their lives
(v) Encourage adolescent girls to initiate various activities so as to become productive and useful member of the society.

Hope reading about it was informative and helpful. It is to be pointed out that ‘We The Women’ does not validates the efficiency of any of these schemes. It is only with knowledge of this scheme one can reach out for them and only once they are availed one can corroborate their efficiency. If we have missed anything you are aware about or you have an experience to share, write to us. WE THE WOMEN is an open platform for anyone to put forward their thoughts and opinions, all you have to do is mail it to us at [email protected]