women and children, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD)
will take stock of its schemes and their implementation at a two-day
meeting beginning here on Tuesday. As a nodal ministry, the WCD will
review the outcome of these schemes and gaps in implementation.
“It has been seen that targeted schemes do not reach the poor
population, thereby excluding 70-75 per cent of the beneficiaries. This
defeats the whole purpose,” said WCD Minster Krishna Tirath.
The meeting is the first among a series to be held in the coming months.
It will focus on women belonging to the SCs, followed by the Scheduled
Tribes, the Other Backward Classes and minorities, and issues related to
poor women and children in the population.
Senior officers from the Ministries of Education, Rural Development,
Labour and Employment, Human Resource Development, Agriculture and
Health and financing agencies have been invited to give an overview and
point out deficiencies in the schemes for SC women and children. Civil
society groups will also make suggestions.
Working groups would be formed for various sectors and they would
discuss issues of health, nutrition, manual scavenging and livelihood.
They would come up with recommendations to make the schemes more
result-oriented. “The ultimate aim is to make women empowered by
providing them health, nutrition, skills and financial independence,”
said Ms. Tirath.