Smriti Zubin Irani is an Indian politician and former actress, fashion model and television producer. She has been Minister of Women and Child Development since 2019, and also Minister of Minority Affairs since 2022. She previously served as Minister of Human Resource Development, Minister of Textiles, and Minister of Information and Broadcasting. She was the youngest minister in prime minister Narendra Modi's second ministry in 2019.
Social security in India includes a variety of statutory insurances and social grant schemes bundled into a formerly complex and fragmented system run by the Indian government at the federal and the state level. The Directive Principles of State Policy, enshrined in Part IV of the Indian Constitution reflects that India is a welfare state. Food security to all Indians are guaranteed under the National Food Security Act, 2013 where the government provides highly subsidised food grains or a food security allowance to economically vulnerable people. The system has since been universalised with the passing of The Code on Social Security, 2020. These cover most of the Indian population with social protection in various situations in their lives.
Anuradha Pal is a Tabla virtuoso, multi-percussionist and music composer who is acclaimed as the first professional female tabla player in the world by Encyclopedia Britannica and the Limca Book of Records.
Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) is a government program in India which provides nutritional meals, preschool education, primary healthcare, immunization, health check-up and referral services to children under 6 years of age and their mothers. The scheme was launched in 1975, discontinued in 1978 by the government of Morarji Desai, and then relaunched by the Tenth Five Year Plan.
The National Health Mission (NHM) was launched by the government of India in 2013 subsuming the National Rural Health Mission and National Urban Health Mission. It was further extended in March 2018, to continue until March 2020. It is headed by Mission Director and monitored by National Level Monitors appointed by the Government of India.Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and the recently launched National Urban Health Mission (NUHM). Main program components include Health System Strengthening (RMNCH+A) in rural and urban areas- Reproductive-Maternal- Neonatal-Child and Adolescent Health, and Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases. NHM envisages achievement of universal access to equitable, affordable and quality health care services that are accountable and responsive to the needs of the people.
The Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, formerly called the National Child Award for Exceptional Achievement, is India’s highest civilian honour for children, awarded annually by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
Nirbhaya Fund was an Indian rupee 10 billion corpus announced by Government of India in its 2013 Union Budget. The Finance Minister P. Chidambaram expected the fund to support initiatives protecting the dignity and ensuring safety of women in India. Nirbhaya (fearless) was the pseudonym given to the 2012 Delhi gang rape victim. The Ministry of Women and Child Development and several other ministries decided the application of the fund. One use was to open One Stop Centres to support women who are victims of violence.
The Nari Shakti Puraskar is an annual award given by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India to individual women or to institutions that work towards the cause of women empowerment. It is the highest civilian honour for women in India, and is presented by the president of India on International Women's Day at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. The award was instituted in 1999 under the title of Stree Shakti Puraskar, renamed and reorganised in 2015. It is awarded in six institutional and two individual categories, which carry a cash prize of 200,000 and 100,000 rupees, respectively.
Odisha State Child Protection Society (OSCPS) is the technical, fundamental and functional unit of Women & Child Development Department, Government of Odisha, for implementation of Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS). OSCPS has been registered in the year 2009 under Society Registration Act. District Child Protection Units (DCPUs) as the extended bodies of OSCPS, have been constituted to carry out the activities of ICPS at district and sub-district level.
Gauri Maulekhi is an animal welfare activist in India. She is the Trustee of People for Animals, India's largest animal welfare organization founded by Smt. Maneka Gandhi, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha. A protege of Ms. Gandhi, she has led successful campaigns for animal rights, including campaign against the practice of sacrificial slaughtering of cattle.
Kishori Shakti Yojana is a scheme initiated by Ministry of Women and Child Development in India, implemented by the Government of Odisha for juvenile girls aged 11 to 18 under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) government programme. Its goal is to empower adolescent girls, to motivate them to be self-reliant, assist them in studies and vocation, promote health care, and give them exposure to society for gaining knowledge so that they can grow into responsible citizens.
Smriti Morarka is an Indian social activist reviving handwoven cloth and improving mental health. In 2019 she was awarded the "Woman Power Award" Nari Shakti Puraskar by the President of India on International Women's Day in recognition of the example she has made.
Nilam Sawhney is currently serving as chief election commissioner of Andhra Pradesh. She served as the first woman Chief Secretary of the newly formed state of Andhra Pradesh, India, from November 2019 to January 2021. She is a 1984 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre. She previously held the position of Secretary of Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment from 2018 to 2019 and before this served as the Secretary of Central Vigilance Commission in the Government of India from 2015 to 2018.
Swaraj Vidwan is an Indian social worker and activist for the underrepresented. She is a former member of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes. She was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar by the government of India for her work with vulnerable and marginalised groups. She is currently affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and serves as a General Secretary in the BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha, the party's Scheduled Caste wing.
Dr. Meena Sharma is an Indian journalist who was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2016. She has identified scandals of children who did not look after their elderly parents and the large number of abortions that were taking place of pregnancies that were predicted to deliver a female child.
Uttara Padwar is an Indian charity worker from Madhya Pradesh who was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2013.
Dr. M.S. Sunil is an Indian Academician, Humanist and Philanthropist known for housing the homeless. She founded Dr. M.S. Sunil Foundation in December, 2016 in Pathanamthitta, with five trust members and six volunteers. Her works focuses to uplift the living conditions of impoverished families/ communities, her philanthropist and non- profit programmes aim to provide safe houses and healthy food to build a compassionate environment with enlightened mind on renewable energy and conservation of natural habitat by including every communities including Tribal and socially underprivileged with less or no inequality. She was acknowledged by the Government of India and was the recipient of many honours, including the Nari Shakti Puraskar- 2017 which is considered as the Government of India's highest civilian honour for women.
Nand Ghar is a social initiative of the Anil Agarwal Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Vedanta Group. The project aims to transform the lives of 7 crore children and 2 crore women across the 13.7 Lakh Anganwadi centres by providing online education, primary healthcare, nutritional requirements and economically skill training for women across India. Project Nand Ghar modernises Anganwadis functioning under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), this includes infrastructural improvements.
