From raising marriage age for women to sex ration at birth improving, a year end

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From raising marriage age for women to sex ration at birth improving, a year end review on women empowerment

To ensure development, care and protection of Women and Children, the Ministry of Women and Child Development has undertaken various measures through initiatives under various schemes, legislation, simplification of procedures, celebrations to spread awareness and facilitate access to learning, nutrition, institutional and legislative support for enabling the women and children to grow, strengthen and develop to their full potential.



Age of Marriage of Women: The Bill on Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Act, 2021 has been introduced in Lok Sabha on 21.12.2021 for raising the age of marriage of women from 18 years to 21 years. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao: The scheme is being implemented across India and covering 640 districts (as per Census 2011) across the country. Out of 640 districts, 405 districts are covered under multi-sectoral intervention along with Media Advocacy under direct supervision of DMs/DCs and all 640 districts are covered through advocacy & media campaign.

The Scheme has stirred up collective consciousness towards changing the mindset of the Nation towards valuing the girl child. This is reflected in the improvement of Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) by 19 points at National level, from 918 in 2014-15 to 937 in 2020-21(HMIS, of MH&FW). POSHAN Tracker: To promote the nutritional status of women and children, a transparent and enabling environment is being created that nurtures health, wellness and immunity.

Poshan Tracker application has been built on latest technology for ensuring real-time monitoring of supplementary nutrition and providing information for prompt supervision and management of services. As on 24.12.2021, 12.27 lakh Anganwadis are uploading data on Poshan Tracker, covering approximately 9.85 crore beneficiaries.

Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY): The Scheme envisages providing cash incentive amounting to ₹ 5,000/- in three installments directly to the Bank/Post Office Account of Pregnant Women and Lactating Mother (PW&LM) in DBT Mode during pregnancy and lactation. It is a measure for women empowerment through wage compensation and promotion of health seeking behavior. As on 24.12.2021, 2.17 crs beneficiaries have benefitted with a total payment to a tune of Rs.9457/-crs under the scheme. PM CARES Fund for children in distress due to COVID-19- A web portal for PM CARES for Children Scheme namely pmcaresforchildren.in has been launched on 15.07.2021 for registration and identification of the beneficiaries to support children who have lost both the Parents or legal Guardian or Adoptive Parents or Surviving Parent to COVID-19 pandemic during the period starting from 11.03.2020.

A series of web meetings were held with concerned Ministries/Departments and States/UTs to update the details of children on the portal. As per the portal, total applications registered as on 24.12.2021 is 6098 out of which 3481 applications have been approved by the District Magistrates and Post Office accounts have been opened for 3275 beneficiaries under the scheme.

Scheme guidelines are available at: https://wcd.nic.in/acts/pm-cares-children-scheme-guidelines One Stop Centres: For women affected by violence and in need of assistance, a range of integrated services are being provided under one roof, including facilitation with police, medical and legal aid and counseling and psycho-social counseling through 704 One Stop Centers or Sakhi Centers across 34 States/UTs. Also, emergency/non-emergency help is provided through toll-free women helpline (181). As on 24.12.2021, assistance has been provided to over 54 lakh women.

Nirbhaya Fund: A meeting of Empowered Committee (EC) of Officers was held on 26.03.2021 in which besides reviewing the status of implementation of earlier approved projects/ schemes, the EC had approved 'in-principle' 16 initiatives to be undertaken for safety & security of women on various aspects such as training of duty bearers, drivers, mental health, lighting of dark spots, providing timely victim compensation, Police Assistance Booth, Relief and shelter support to minor girls etc. In addition, the EC has also appraised 3 projects/schemes of Govt. of Bihar, Govt. of Punjab and Govt. of Uttar Pradesh on women safety.

Further, during current financial year 2021-22, Two proposals worth Rs.114.89 Cr. viz.
(1) proposal for opening One Stop Centers (OSCs) in India Missions abroad -Rs.40.79 Cr.) and (2) Schemes for critical care and support for accessing justice to rape/gang-rape survivors and minor girl who get pregnant- Rs.74.10 Cr., were appraised on 28.04.2021 and an amount of Rs. 17.31 Cr. was appraised for the proposal of DNA analysis in four more States/UTs on 30.09.2021 Expansion of Childline: Childline 1098, a 24-hour a day, 365 days a year, free, emergency phone service, is a nation-wide initiative for rescuing and assisting children in need of aid. This year, Childline has also started Childline Services at Bus Stands and presently is available at 9 Bus Stands, in addition to its presence in railway stations.

Supplementary Nutrition Programme under ICDS: In keeping with the announcement of Hon'ble Prime Minister on 15th August, 2021 from the Red Fort, the Ministry has taken a decision to distribute 100% fortified rice to States/ UTs under Supplementary Nutrition Programme to address the issue of malnutrition faced by women and children. Juvenile Justice Amendment Act: The Government has notified on 9th August, 2021 the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Act, 2021 to strengthen the implementation and monitoring mechanism under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. Among others, the JJ Amendment Act, 2021 empowers the District Magistrate including Additional District Magistrate to effectively coordinate and monitor the functions of the agencies responsible for implementation of JJ Act, 2015 and decide the cases of adoption under the provisions of the Act and also introduces eligibility conditions for appointment of the members of Child Welfare Committee.

Simplification of Adoption procedure: The Juvenile Justice Act 2015 has been amended through Govt notification on 9.8.2021 and one of the most important features of the amendments is that it includes authorizing District Magistrate including Additional District Magistrate to issue adoption orders under Section 61 of the JJ Act, in order to ensure speedy disposal of cases and enhance accountability. District Magistrate has to function as the grievance redressal authority and the Divisional Commissioner as appellate authority in the matter of adoption. The District Magistrates have been further empowered under the Act, to ensure its smooth implementation, as well as garner synergized efforts in favour of children in distress conditions. On 17th Sept 2021, Government has notified "Procedure for children adopted under the Hindu Adoption & Maintenance Act, 1956 by persons who desire to relocate a child abroad" to simplify procedure related to adoption by Hindu prospective adoptive parents or adoptive parents residing outside the country.

CARA has been empowered to issue NOC in such cases of adoptions on the basis of verification by the District Magistrate and necessary permission from the receiving country. Registered Overseas Citizens of India have been granted parity with Non-Resident Indians in the matter of adoption, as per notice dated 4.3.2021. POSHAN Pakhwada (16th-31st March, 2021): Poshan Pakhwada was organised from 16th-31st March, 2021. In order to reaching out to masses and touching the remotest of locations to sensitize target beneficiaries and stakeholders during these 16 days of celebrations, Poshan Pakhwada was dedicated around the following themes.

Source: https://www.oneindia.com/india/from-raising-marriage-age-for-women-to-sex-ration-at-birth-improving-a-year-end-review-on-women-empo-3352727.html