Women and Child Development Department, Government of Gujarat

The land of Gujarat is witness to vibrant development including the development of people with the State Government putting in special efforts for the development of women and children and addressing their concerns in a multifaceted manner. Women and Child Development Department was instituted by Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi immediately after winning elections in 2001 to promote holistic development and empowerment of women and girls in the state. Concerns of women and children are addressed by the department through policies, institutions, schemes and programmes.

Swarnim Siddhi - golden goals have been specifically made for women and children during the golden jubilee year of Gujarat. These golden goals (2010-11) have led to an increase in coverage of nutrition services under Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) to 17.11 lakh children from a base value of 11 lakh children (2009-10). Coverage of pregnant and nursing mothers has increased to 7.34 lakh against a base of 4 lakh. Coverage of adolescent girls rose to 9.25 lakh against a base value of 3 lakh. In the current year, under ‘Gujarat State Nutrition Mission’ (GSNM) under the Chairmanship of the Hon’ble Chief Minister has been initiated for the improvement of the nutritional status of the people through a multi-sectoral approach to nutrition and large scale convergence for catering to all vulnerable population groups as part of the golden goals. Swarnim Sopan goals the focus for the Women and Child Development Department is on education and empowerment of adolescent girls through improving coverage of Health and Nutrition Services to Adolescent Girls.

With an aim to universalize ICDS there are now more than 50,138 operational Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) reaching out to approximately 46 lakh beneficiaries in 18,500 villages. Further, with an aim to meet supplementary nutritional needs of children under 6 years of age, pregnant, lactating mothers and adolescent girls; Gujarat initiated provision of “Ready to cook – ‘Energy Dense Fortified Blended Food’ as Take Home Ration (THR)” – to the target ICDS beneficiaries (pregnant women, lactating mothers and adolescent girls) as Take Home Ration. The 4 types of ready to cook recipes are Bal Bhog, Upma, Sheera and Sukhadi Premixes that are energy dense, fortified with 8 essential micronutrients and are provided free of cost from the AWC. A total expenditure of Rs. 542.83 crores was incurred during the financial year 2010-11. The State Government has spent an additional of Rs. 143 crores during 2010–11 over and above the 50% share norm of the State and Central Government.

Box 1New Initiatives to improve the nutritional status

Annaprashan Diwas: The Honourable Chief Minister of Gujarat launched “Annaprashan Day”, a fixed day, fixed time, fixed site complementary feeding and counseling strategy. More than 81,853 infants have been initiated with complementary feeding on Annaprashan Diwas in November, 2011.

During last 6 months, more than 132 Rasoi shows (THR cooking demonstration) have been organized in which 4, 84,349 women participated.

As an endeavor to decentralize ICDS and increase community participation, more than 46,1717 Self Help Groups (Matru Mandals/Sakhi Mandals etc.) are gradually being involved in procurement, provision and distribution of freshly prepared breakfast to the Anganwadi children (3 to 6 year). Additionally, locally available seasonal fruit is given twice a week. In partnership with local dairies, 100 ml of fortified flavored double toned pasteurized milk is given twice a week to all the children in AWC in 10 blocks of 6 tribal districts under the Doodh Sanjivani Yojana.

Mobile Anganwadi Vans: To meet the needs of socially excluded population like the migrants involved in agriculture, salt fields, mega urban projects in peri urban areas of South Gujarat, NREGA workers, tribal people etc. the State Government has started Mobile Anganwadi Vans. These vans are equipped with all facilities like weighing scale, growth chart, pre-school education kits, medicine kits, prescribed registers etc. An expenditure of Rs. 2 crores was incurred towards purchase of 46 vans.

Motivation to Anganwadi Workers

Anganwadi Workers (AWW) and Helpers (AWH) working under ICDS is a good link between the community and administration. As an endeavour to motivate our ICDS functionaries (AWW and AWH), Gujarat state gives an additional honorarium of Rs. 1000 per month to the AWW and Rs. 500 per month to the AWH. The State Government spends an extra Rs. 95 crore to be paid as increased honorarium. A pair of saree and blouse designed by NIFT, Gandhinagar is distributed to all AWW and AWH since 2007 – 08 for which the State spends Rs. 7 crore annually. During 2009-10 and 2010-11, 3.45 lakh sarees were distributed for which an expenditure of Rs. 10.84 crores was incurred.

As a State initiative, Mata Yashoda Awards are given to AWWs and AWHs for their exemplary work which consists of various citation & cash awards wherein one Anganwadi Worker and one Helper are given Rs. 51,000/- and Rs. 31,000/ respectively as State and district level awards. In 2010, an

amount of Rs. 1.35 crore was paid to 800 AWWs and AWHs and more than 878 AWWs and AWHs would receive the award in the year 2011-12. Mata Yashoda Gaurav Nidhi (Insurance Scheme) covered a total of 94,308 AWW and AWH during 2010-11 wherein the insurance benefits are on death before “Terminal Date" i.e. age of super annuation - Rs. 50,000 and amount including to the credit of the member in the Running account.

Community based participation is being enhanced regularly through various initiatives at the AWCs like the Rasoi Show, Healthy Adolescent Girls Competition, Clean House Competition, Healthy Baby Competition, Healthy Pregnant Women Competition (pregnant women taking all the ICDS services, proper weight gain and received all vaccinations and taking IFA tablets). Handsome prizes are being given through involvement of community members and Panchayats. With the object that the society may shoulder the responsibility of improving health and nutrition of poor children, the Hon’ble Chief Minister urged the society to provide children with ‘Tithi Bhijan’ being celebrated in village wherein many donors, community members give sukhadi, milk, other refreshments and toys to children of Anganwadi.

As a model of community mobilization, the Swami Vivekanand Poshan Abhiyan based on Shri Swami Vivekanand’s concept of active involvement of the youth and promotion of self-dependence in the community

Box 2A Gujarat Initiative:

‘Nandghar’ – Fully Equipped Anganwadi Centers (AWCs)

The State has taken up a special initiative to strengthen ICDS infrastructure through construction of AWCs with proper ventilation, kitchen area and toilet facilities to provide a conducive environment to children;

in the last three years, State Government has spent Rs. 350 crores towards construction of 10,960 AWCs from its own State budget.

Rs. 8.27 crores were spent towards electrification of 20,814 AWCs. Since 2009-10, State Government pays Rs. 200 per Anganwadi towards the electricity bills.

Rs.10 crores spent every year from State Budget towards repair and maintenance of AWCs

Gas Connection along with stoves and cookers have been provided to 49,000 AWCs for which approximately Rs. 33.34 crores has been spent through Public Private

is under preparation with the involvement of all stakeholders and youth as part of celebrations of Swami Vivekanand’s 150th birth anniversary.

Women-Specific Initiatives

Nari Gaurav – dignity and respect for a woman’s life, her work, her concerns, her rights is central to the development of Gujarat. The approach of the State Government is to promote gender mainstreaming through policy-formation, women-specific institutions and processes, programmes and schemes.

The Gujarat State Commission for Women has a major objective of protection of women’s constitutional and legal rights. The Commission operates a helpline to provide assistance on issues relating to violence against women and legal concerns. To promote rights-based awareness among women, the Commission organises seminars and workshops across the state.

Multipurpose Women Welfare Centres (MPWWCs) numbering 243 have been formed across the state in 25 districts and 218 taluka and urban areas across Gujarat to help women deal with social, legal and employment-related issues of women. 100 MPWWCs have been provided with the audio visual kits to enable them in establishing dialogue with authorities and experts through State Satellite Communication. The MPWWCs act as service providers to help women under the Protection of Women against Domestic Violence Act, 2005. Further, to strengthen measures of accessible and easy justice to women, the Government is in the process of expanding Nari Adalats across the State.

The Gujarat Women’s Economic Development Corporation (GWEDC) has been consistently working to improve the economic status of women through financial support, training, and marketing support to women. The Ghar Divda Scheme of GWEDC has been initiated to promote economic self-reliance for BPL women by linking them with loan facilities, vocational training and stipend.

Under the National Mission for Empowerment of Women (2010), the State Mission Authority for Empowerment of Women has been formed to address gender issues through inter-sectoral convergence. It aims to promote social, economic and educational development of women by ensuring better implementation of welfare schemes and activities for women. The Gender Resource Centre (GRC) the mission to ensure that the relevance of gender equity and equality is accepted in the overall development process of the state. Gender budgeting is an ongoing process undertaken jointly by Finance Department, Women & Child Development Department and

GRC to promote gender mainstreaming across various departments of the Government. Moreover, the Government has constituted a State Level Committee for the implementation of Gender Budgeting/Gender Auditing.

The widow pension and widow training scheme is an initiative with additional features to the central government scheme. Destitute widows (18 – 60 years) receive a monthly pension of Rs. 500 and Rs. 80 for a child (up to two Children) through Post Office account. About 123000 widows are being covered under the scheme. For rehabilitation of widows and destitute women, the department gives vocational and skill based trainings to 18 - 40 years of widow beneficiaries to make them economically independent. After the successful completion of the vocational training widows are given Rs. 5000 as margin money to initiate small business. 56,353 women have been covered under this initiative. The State Government has also initiated a scheme of providing group insurance of Rs. 1 lakh that the children of widow receive after her death.

With a view of benefitting the girl child, the State government decided to continue the Balika Samruddhi Yojana (BSY) scheme even though when the Central government has discontinued the scheme in 2006 – 07. Two girl children from each household born on or after 15.08.1997 will be covered under the scheme for benefits. During 2010 – 11, State Government had spent Rs. 10 crores under the Balika Samruddhi Scheme.

Every year, International Women’s Day is celebrated state-wide by organising Mahila Sammelans on 8 th

March. The Department gives an annual Mahila Award of Rs. 1, 00,000/- to organisations and Rs. 50,000/- to an individual social worker in recognition of their contribution to women’s empowerment in the State.

Nari Gaurav Niti – The State Policy for Gender Equity announced by Government of Gujarat in 2006 has been formed to promote gender equity and equality by putting gender concerns in the mainstream of the state’s overall development plan. The guiding philosophy of the policy is that women and men have equal rights, opportunities and responsibilities to contribute to the well being of the society. To achieve inter-sectoral convergence, the Nari Gaurav Niti has outlined action plans in eight key sectors namely economic environment, governance and decision making, health and quality of life, natural resource management, education, violence against women, women-related laws, advocacy and capacity building. Multi-faceted approaches of gender sensitization, gender mainstreaming, gender planning, gender audit, gender analysis and gender convergence are recommended in the policy for women’s development.

Box 3 Key Programme/Scheme Achievements as per Nari Gaurav Niti

Economic Environment

Gujarat has approximately 2.24 lakh Sakhi Mandals (2011-12) leading to saving worth Rs. 181.38 crores and linkages built with Mission Mangalam for sustained economic development of members of the Mandals.

133 schools/colleges have a special guidance corner for women on career and job options. 50% of the total PDS shop permits given to Mahila Mandals. Leadership development trainings to Mahila Sarpanches have been established to support women

candidates in Panchayat elections. Commissionerate, Women and Child Development has trained 53123 women for economic

empowerment. 12 Women ITIs and 24 Women wing in general ITI have been established. 50% seats are reserved under Craftsman Skill Development Programme 6299 urban BPL women employed under Urban Income Employment Programme 61310 women farmers received training in agriculture & 10000 women farmers participated in Krishi

Melas Property registration fees worth Rs. 283.54 crores were exempted by Government for registration of

property in the name of 9.60 lakh women.Housing

1.40 lakh houses built in the ownership of wife and 30850 houses built in the joint ownership of husband and wife under Indira Awas Yojana (2010-11)

Under Sardar Awas Yojana 1.44 lakh houses were allotted in the name of women (2010-11) 141822 plots were allotted to BPL Families and 67654 SANAD were given to BPL Families (2009-

11). The SANAD has been issued jointly in the name of wife and husband.Governance

30% reservation for women in Government jobs with an increase in age limit by 5 years for women 72512 women are members on 17773 Pani Samitis across Gujarat (33.9% Women) 493149 women are members of 3205 Participatory Forest Management Committees 2119 Women Milk Cooperatives are run with a membership of 642208 women 25 Mahila Police Stations and 9 Mahila Police Cells have been established for women in needHealth

Rights of charter of patients displayed in all PHCs and CHCs The Chiranjeevi Scheme provides private doctor-services benefitting 15.09 lakh pregnant women. The emergency response service – 108 has helped 826930 pregnant women in accessing pregnancy

related emergencies service whereas 22682 women got emergency delivery services Quality Health Assurance Programme provided to 91.7% PHCs with water facility and 92.54% with

sanitation facility 29608 ASHA workers appointed in remote areas to address health concerns of women and children

As rightly said by Hon'ble Chief Minister Narendra Modi “Gujarat has always been gearing for catalyzing robust, sustainable and ‘Inclusive Growth’. The development of children and women is a key thrust area for Gujarat to achieve Inclusive Growth.