For effective implementation of various schemes and programmes of the ministry of women and child development (WCD), all major schemes of the ministry have been classified under three umbrella schemes — Mission Poshan 2.0, Mission Vatsalya and Mission Shakti.

What is the need for Mission Shakti?

The Constitution of India has granted equal rights to women and men in terms of freedom and opportunity. To enable a woman to be the author of her destiny and that of the nation, a life cycle continuum approach has to be adopted that creates an ecosystem that addresses inherent biases and role-plays, protects and upholds the rights and dignity of women and equips them with necessary skill sets and instil confidence in them to forge their way ahead. 

To take the momentum gained so far forward to realize the vision of women welfare and gender equity, a comprehensive policy is required that addresses not only the gaps between policy advancements and the actual delivery of services at the community level but also removes the disparate development pattern in case of extremely marginalised and socially excluded women.

Therefore, it is absolutely imperative to address existing challenges while taking care of emerging issues as the nation progresses.

The central government has enacted several legislations and implements various schemes for safety, security and improving the status of women including their economic empowerment. 

However, despite various affirmative steps, various parameters indicate that a lot still needs to be done for improving the status of women in society. Thus, the need of the hour is to have a concerted effort in a mission mode to ensure gender equality and women’s empowerment, giving rise to Mission Shakti. 

Mission Shakti has two sub-schemes — ‘Sambal’ and ‘Samarthya’.

Budget allocation for components under Sambal for 15th Finance Commission (FC) period is Rs 2,943 crore as against actual expenditure of Rs 1,002 crore during 14th FC period. Similarly, budget allocation (central share) for components under Samarthya for 15th FC period is Rs 12,318 crore as against actual expenditure of Rs 6,634 crore during 14th FC period.

1) Sambal

The objective of the sub-scheme is to improve accessibility and integrate all efforts and various government initiatives towards the safety and protection of women, as well as for securing their rights and entitlements on a comprehensive continuum of care and support to women affected by violence and in distress and to assist them in re-emerging as integrated partners in nation-building.

In Sambal, existing schemes of One Stop Centres (OSC), Universalisation of Women Helpline (WHL), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) have been included and a new component of Nari Adalat has been added.

The One Stop Centre (OSC) will be the mainstay of the Sambal sub-scheme as well as of all activities at district level. The scheme of OSC is being implemented since April 1, 2015 to provide integrated support and assistance to women affected by violence and in distress, both in private and public spaces under one roof and facilitate immediate, emergency and non-emergency access to a range of services including medical, legal, temporary shelter, police assistance, psychological and counselling support to fight against any forms of violence against women. Presently, OSCs are being set up in each district of the country.

The Women Helpline (WHL) provides toll-free 24-hour telecom service to women seeking support and information by connecting them with the Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) for all emergency services. The WHL will also provide information about government schemes/programmes, facilities and will also connect women with the statutory officers under various legislations like dowry prohibition officers, child marriage prevention officers, and protection officers, etc as per requirement within the local area in which she resides or is employed. 

The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme scheme was launched on January 22, 2015 as a tri-ministerial effort of the ministry of women & child development, ministry of education and ministry of health and family welfare. Now, the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship and ministry of minority affairs have also been added as partners with a view to undertake a special drive and awareness programme for promoting higher education and skill development among girls.

Nari Adalat is a new component for providing women with an alternate Grievance Redressal Mechanism for resolving cases of petty nature (harassment, subversion, curtailment of rights or entitlements) faced by women at Gram Panchayat level. It will be implemented in a phased manner. Nari Adalats or women collectives will be formed of committed and socially respected women chosen for that purpose. This platform will also be utilised for engaging with the public for awareness generation and getting feedback for improvement in the schemes and for effective public delivery of services.

2) Samarthya

In Samarthya, which is for empowerment of women, existing schemes of Ujjwala, Swadhar Greh and Working Women Hostel and the existing Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) schemes of National Creche Scheme and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) have now been included under this umbrella scheme as these primarily focuses on women’s economic empowerment.

In addition, where required, funding support for economic empowerment of women will also be provided on a need basis, subject to the condition that funding support from other sources for the proposed activity is not  available.

The objective of the scheme is to improve accessibility to various government services available for women at various levels through reinforcement and convergence for development and empowerment of women. The sub-scheme aims towards social, cultural, political and economic development and empowerment of women.

A new component of Gap Funding for Economic Empowerment has also been added in the Samarthya Scheme. The existing sub-schemes of Mahila Shakti Kendra (MSK) and Mahila Police Volunteers (MPV) have been discontinued.  

The ministry was implementing the schemes of Swadhar Greh for women in difficult circumstances and Ujjawala for prevention of trafficking. Both the schemes were aimed at creating a safe and enabling environment for the women in distress including trafficked women and thereby give them the strength to overcome their difficult circumstances and make a fresh start. For administrative purposes, Swadhar Greh and Ujjawala schemes have been merged and these will be known as ‘Shakti Sadan’ — Integrated Relief and Rehabilitation Home. 

The Home For Widows scheme has been fully funded by the government to accommodate 1,000 widows to provide the widows a safe and secure place of stay, health services, nutritious food, legal and counseling services has been established.

The Sakhi Niwas – Working Women Hostel component provides women with support services like safe accommodation with food and medical assistance. This is  necessary in view of increased demand for Working Women Hostels (WWHs) due to changing preferences leading to more women entering employment/workforce and migrating to employment hubs. 

Considering the difficulties faced by the working mothers in giving due child care and protection to their children, it has been decided to provide the day-care créche facilities through the component of Palna. The objective of Palna is to address the urgent need for quality crèche care facilities by providing a safe and secure environment for nutritional, health and cognitive development of the children, thereby enabling more mothers to take up gainful employment.

The government is implementing the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) from January 1, 2017. It provides cash incentive for partial compensation for the wage loss so that the woman can take adequate rest before and after delivery of the first child, and to improve health seeking behaviour amongst the Pregnant Women & Lactating Mothers (PW&LM).

Gender Budgeting has been adopted as a tool to facilitate a gender sensitive analysis in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of policies, programmes and budgets (expenditure and revenue). Gender Budget aims to disaggregate the government’s budget according to its differential impact on women and men. Under the Samarthya component, Gender Budgeting has been included under the Hub for Empowerment of Women (HEW). The goal of Gender Budgeting is to enable government stakeholders at the central, state and district level to undertake gender budgeting through enhanced capacities, knowledge and skills.

Hub for Empowerment of Women (HEW) aims to facilitate inter-sectoral convergence of schemes and programmes meant for women both at the central (NHEW), state/UT level (SHEW) and district level (DHEW) with the mandate to create an environment in which women realise their full potential.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store