Women Empowerment

Achievements and Role of Department of Women and Child Development The provisions of the Constitution of India granting equality to women in various spheres creates the legal framework within which the Department of Women & Child Development functions for women's development. Women as a mother hood of the nation should be strong, aware and alert; that is main motto of the Department and mother with child is the future of the nation. formulating strategies and initiating processes to bring women into the mainstream. Women constitute half of the country's population (accounting for 407.1 million in absolute numbers as per the 1991 census), and it is abundantly clear that there can be no development unless their needs and interests are fully taken into account. to protect and safeguard the rights of women. to give the much needed impetus to the holistic development of women and children. For advancement of women and children All these efforts are directed to ensure that women are empowered both economically and socially and thus become equal partners in national development along with men. The major policy initiatives undertaken by the Department in the recent past include the establishment of the National Commissio

n for Women (NCW), Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK), adoption of National Nutrition Policy (NNP), strengthening of ICDS, setting up of National Creche Fund (NCF), launching of Indira Mahila Yojana (IMY), Balika Samriddhi Yojana (BSY), and Rural Women's Development and Empowerment Project (RWDEP). (3) -Programs that offer girls alternative life choices can help them stay in school and, consequently, delay childbearing. Indeed, if we are to be successful, three conditions must exist simultaneously, and globally, to help reduce population: first, the education and empowerment of women--the ability of women to participate in the decisions about family size and in the decisions about the shape and nature of society; second, the availability of family planning services and information; and, third, the confidence by parents that their children will survive. India has been given the responsibility of holding the Sixth meeting of Commonwealth Ministers responsible for Women's Affairs. A National Credit Fund, Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) was set up in March, 1993, to extend credit facilities to poor and needy women in the informal sectors. The keystone, then, of the Cairo plan is gender equality, equity and empowerment of women. The woman should not be expected to take on double, triple loads; she must not be induced to sacrifice her professional career in order to look after the family because, after all, it is her job alone. The main strategy of the scheme is to create an organisational base for women to come together, to analyse and fulfil their needs through existing departmental programmes of the State and Central Government. Successful population and development programs must offer women options for their lives beyond childbearing. To enforce the reproductive role as the only role in this day and age is mind boggling. The RWDEP (Rural Women's Development Empowerment Project) has been sanctioned on 16th October, 1998 as a Centrally Sponsored Project with an estimated cost of Rs.