• India
  • Jul 03

WCD ministry renames NIPCCD after Savitribai Phule

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) has officially renamed the National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD) as the Savitribai Phule National Institute of Women and Child Development.

• The move is seen as a tribute to Savitribai Phule, a 19th-century social reformer, educator, and a key advocate for women’s rights in India.

• The name change came into effect on June 19, in accordance with sections 12 and 12A of the Societies Registration Act, 1860, according to a gazette notification issued on June 30.

• As part of efforts to decentralise capacity-building efforts, the ministry also announced the inauguration of a new regional centre in Ranchi.

• The regional centre will cater to states in the eastern region — Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, and West Bengal — which collectively host over seven lakh functionaries under flagship schemes such as Mission Shakti, Mission Vatsalya, and Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0. 

• The Savitribai Phule National Institute of Women and Child Development currently operates regional centres in Bengaluru, Guwahati, Lucknow, Indore, and Mohali

Who was Savitribai Phule?

• Savitribai Phule is widely recognised as the country’s first female teacher and a revolutionary who challenged caste and gender barriers.

• Born on January 3, 1831, at Naigaon in Satara district of Maharashtra, Savitribai married Jyotirao Phule at the age of nine, and moved to Pune with him.

• Her husband, fired by modern ideas and reformist zeal, taught her to read and write. Savitribai took a teachers’ training course and became a qualified teacher in 1847.

• The couple then started a school for girls in Bhide Wada in Pune in 1848, and she became its first teacher.

• The couple had to face tremendous harassment from conservative elements who found the idea of women’s education repugnant.

• Savitribai and her husband were instrumental in setting up ‘Satyashodhak Samaj’ (Society of Truth-seekers), which championed progressive ideas, denounced the dowry custom and encouraged marriage without exchange of dowry.

• She passed away on March 10, 1897.

What is NIPCCD?

• NIPCCD, an autonomous organisation under the WCD Ministry, was initially established in February 1966 under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860. 

• It was earlier known as Central Institute of Research and Training in Public Cooperation, under the aegis of Planning Commission.

• It was established as a premier organisation devoted to promotion of voluntary action, research, training and documentation in the overall domain of women and child development.

• After adoption of National Policy for Children, 1975, and after being identified as an apex body for training of the functionaries of the newly launched flagship programme of the government of India called Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), the institute was renamed as National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD) in 1975.

• Currently, NIPCCD is an autonomous institute under the aegis of Ministry of Women and Child Development.

• Its headquarters is situated in New Delhi. It has expanded its area of work across the country through regional centres in Guwahati, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Indore and Mohali.

• The institute focuses on essential and need-based programmes for holistic development of children and their protection, and for creating awareness regarding women’s empowerment and gender issues. 

Objectives of NIPCCD:

i) Take a comprehensive view of child development and to develop and promote programmes in pursuance of the national policy for children.

ii) To develop measures for coordination of governmental and voluntary action in social development.

iii) To evolve framework and perspective for organising children’s programmes through governmental and voluntary efforts.

iv) To conduct, promote, sponsor and collaborate in research and evaluation studies in voluntary action and in child development.

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