New Delhi, Dec 27 (PTI) The Women and Child Development Ministry worked through three verticals of Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, Mission Shakti and Mission Vatsalya with an aim to ensure better monitoring and efficient implementation of its various schemes this year.
Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 looked into nutrition support for children, adolescent girls and pregnant women and lactating mothers; and for early childhood care and education while Mission Shakti aimed at safety, security and empowerment of women and Mission Vatsalya focused on protection and welfare of children.
Last year, the ministry classified all its major programmes under these three umbrella schemes for better implementation.
Under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, the ministry issued the scheme guidelines on August 1 whereby two lakh anganwadi centres were to be strengthened, upgraded and rejuvenated for improved nutrition and educational delivery.
So far, anganwadi workers have been provided with 11.22 lakh smart phones.
Besides, to promote regular growth monitoring of children, 12.65 lakh growth monitoring devices, such as infantometer, stadiometer, weighing scale for mother and infant, weighing scale for child, have been procured by states and Union territories.
To promote the nutritional status of women and children in real-time, Poshan tracker application was put on smartphones of anganwadi workers.
As on October 31, approximately 9.84 crore beneficiaries have been onboarded.
Also, beneficiaries on Poshan tracker were Aadhaar seeded to ensure last mile tracking and delivery of services. This led to opposition from civil rights groups who expressed concern over possibility of lack of nutrition facilities for children who did not have Aadhaar card.
Following which, the Women and Child Development Ministry clarified that a child’s Aadhaar card is not mandatory for availing the benefits of nutrition scheme, and that these can be accessed using the mother’s biometric card to register on the Poshan tracker app.
The government is exploring adding Ayush component in take-home ration of children, pregnant women and lactating women that they get from anganwadi centres to improve their nutrition level, a senior official said.
The project is being tried out on a pilot basis in Gujarat and Karnataka and both states have given good results, the official said.
This year, the government also decided to integrate various helplines -112, 181 and 1098 – in an effort to provide a better emergency response, another official said.
Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) is a pan-India single number (112) for citizens in emergencies while 1098 is a toll free, phone outreach service for children.
Under Mission Shakti, focus was on two sub-schemes Sambal and Samarthya for safety and security of women and empowerment of women respectively.
As on September 30, assistance under the one-stop centres for women affected by violence and in need of assistance has been provided to over 88 lakh women. The ministry also launched Stree Manoraksha Project in collaboration with NIMHANS Bengaluru for psycho social training for staff and counsellors of One Stop Centres.
The Nirbhaya fund set up after the gang-rape of a paramedical student in 2012 was utilised by 70 per cent by November. From its inception till 2021-22, the total allocation under the fund has been over Rs 6,000 crore, of which Rs 4,200 crore has been utilised.
Under Mission Vatsalya, the Juvenile Justice Model Amendment Rules, 2022 and Adoption Regulations, 2022 were notified in September under which the district magistrates were made the nodal authority at district levels for all matters relating to child safety, empowerment and safety including issuance of adoption orders.
Concerns remained over high pendency of adoption cases in district courts due to new regulations but ministry said that pendency of adoption orders have come down since the rules have come into force.
High number of prospective adoptive parents and low availability of children legally free for adoption was another concern that remained this year among various quarters but under the new adoption regulation waiting period was removed for those parents who desire to adopt a child having special needs and also from the immediate placement category.
The immediate placement category includes children who have been referred several times to prospective adoptive parents (PAP’s) through Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System, but have not found a family.
To support children who have lost both parents, single surviving parent, legal guardian or adoptive parents to Covid pandemic, the scheme for PM Cares for Children was launched last year under which a total of 4,345 children were found eligible under the scheme till this year.
The ministry’s two commissions – National Commission for Women and National Commission for Protection of Children – continued to play a crucial role this year.
The focus of NCW worked on projects of entrepreneurship, digital literacy, legal awareness while the NCPCR focussed on rehabilitation of street children.
Led by Smriti Irani, the ministry also held various zonal meetings in different parts of the country to discuss and deliberate on various issues of women and children. PTI UZM ZMN
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