Union Budget: Umbrella Schemes of Ministry of Women & Child Development

WOMEN/ GOVERNANCE

• GS-1: Women Issues
• GS-2: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Union Budget: Umbrella Schemes of Ministry of Women & Child Development

• Empowerment and protection of women and children who constitute 67.7% of India’s population and ensuring their wholesome development in a safe and secure environment is crucial for sustainable and equitable development of the country and for achieving transformational economic and social changes.

• Recognizing the importance of ‘Nari Shakti’ as the harbinger of India’s bright future and for women-led development during the ‘Amrit Kaal’, the government has comprehensively revamped the schemes of the Ministry of Women & Child Development. 

A. Mission Shakti, Mission Vatsalya, Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 have been announced to provide integrated benefits to women and children.

Prime objectives:

• To address gaps in State action for women and children
• To promote inter-ministerial and inter- sectoral convergence to create gender equitable and child centred legislation, policies and programmes
• Mission Shakti: Mission for Protection and Empowerment for Women

Aims to create an inclusive society in the country where women and girls have equal access to resources and opportunities which will in turn help in the country’s social, economic and political development. 

• It will be run in a mission mode and will adopt a life cycle continuum approach. 
• Provides a strong architecture for convergence, cooperation, and synergy
• Budget allocation: Rs 3,184 crore in 2022-23

The sub-schemes included under it are:

• Sambal is more concentrated on the safety and security of women. It includes One Stop Centre to provide necessary support and assistance to women affected by violence in private and public spaces, Mahila Police Volunteer to fight the crime against women through active volunteering, Women’s Helpline providing 24-hour emergency and non-emergency referral services.

• Swadhar Greh scheme to provide rehabilitation to women affected by unforeseen circumstances, the Ujjawala scheme to help in preventing women and children trafficking. A new component Nari Adalats has been added to the scheme wherein faster alternative dispute resolution is provided and gender justice is ensured.
• Samarthya aims towards woman empowerment. It includes the schemes of the government like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao to generate awareness and improve the efficiency of welfare services intended for girls in India. Besides it also includes the maternity benefits program under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, gender budgeting, research, creche provisioning for working mothers under National Creche Scheme. 

B. Mission Poshan 2.0

An Integrated Nutrition Support Programme that seeks to address the challenges of malnutrition in children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers

• Through a strategic shift in nutrition content and delivery and 
• By creation of a convergent eco-system to develop and promote practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity. 
• Poshan 2.0 will seek to optimize the quality and delivery of food under the Supplementary Nutrition Program.

Poshan 2.0 will bring 3 important programmes/schemes under its ambit, viz., 

• Anganwadi Services
• Scheme for Adolescent Girls
• Poshan Abhiyaan

Poshan 2.0 shall focus on 

• Maternal Nutrition
• Infant and Young Child Feeding Norms
• Treatment of MAM/SAM
• Wellness through AYUSH

Pillars of Poshan 2.0: Convergence, Governance, and Capacity-building

Mission Poshan 2.0 will integrate several key strategies to fulfil its objectives, viz., 

• Corrective strategies
  • Nutrition Awareness strategies
• Communication strategies and Creation of green eco-systems. 

Digital infrastructure under the “Poshan Tracker” will strengthen and bring about transparency in nutrition delivery support systems. Technology under Poshan Tracker is being leveraged for

• Dynamic identification of stunting, wasting, under-weight prevalence among children
• Last mile tracking of nutrition service delivery

C. Mission Vatsalya 

Children have been recognized by policy makers as one of the supreme national assets. India is home to 472 million children upto the age of 18 years and comprise 39 percent of the country’s population. 

Objectives of Mission Vatsalya: 

• To secure a healthy and happy childhood for every child in India
• Foster a sensitive, supportive and synchronized ecosystem for development of children
• Assist States/UTs in delivering the mandate of the Juvenile Justice Act 2015
• Achieve the SDG goals.

Components under Mission Vatsalya will include statutory bodies; service delivery structures; institutional care/services; non-institutional community based care; emergency outreach services; training and capacity building.