Ministry of Women and Child Development

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Ministry of Women and Child Development
Government of India logo.svg
Branch of Government of India
Ministry of Women and Child Development.svg
Ministry of Women and Child Development
Annpurna Devi Minister (cropped).jpg
Incumbent
Annpurna Devi
since 11 June 2024
Agency overview
Formed2006
Jurisdiction Government of India
HeadquartersMinistry of Women and Child Development
Shastri Bhawan,
Dr. Rajendra Prasad Road
New Delhi
Annual budget25,449 crore (US$3.0 billion) (2023-24 est.) [1]
Ministers responsible
Website wcd.nic.in

The Ministry of Women and Child Development, a branch of the Government of India, is an apex body for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to women and child development in India. The current minister for the Ministry of Women and Child Development is Annpurna Devi having held the portfolio since 2024.

Contents

History

The Department of Women and Child Development was set up in the year 1985 as a part of the Ministry of Human Resource Development to give the much needed impetus to the holistic development of women and children. With effect from 30 January 2006, the Department has been upgraded to a Ministry. [2]

Mandate

The broad mandate of Ministry is to have holistic development of Women and Children. As a nodal Ministry for the advancement of women and children, the Ministry formulates plans, policies and programmes; enacts/ amends legislation, guides and coordinates the efforts of both governmental and non-governmental organisations working in the field of Women and Child Development. Besides, playing its nodal role, the Ministry implements certain innovative programmes for women and children. These programmes cover welfare and support services, training for employment and income generation, awareness generation and gender sensitization. These programmes play a supplementary and complementary role to the other general developmental programmes in the sectors of health, education, rural development etc. 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. [2]

Policy initiatives

For holistic into development of the child, the Ministry has been implementing the world's largest outreach programme of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) providing a package of services comprising supplementary nutrition, immunization, health check-up and referral services, pre-school non-formal education. There is effective coordination and monitoring of various sectoral programmes. Most of the programmes of the Ministry are run through non-governmental organisations. Efforts are made to have more effective involvement of NGOs. The major policy initiatives undertaken by the Ministry in into the recent past include universalisation of ICDS and Kishori Shakti Yojana, launching a nutrition programme for adolescent girls, establishment of the Commission for protection of Child Rights and enactment of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act. [2]

The ministry also gives the annual Stree Shakti Puraskar in six categories, namely Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar, Kannagi Award, Mata Jijabai Award, Rani Gaidinliu Zeliang Award, Rani Lakshmi Bai Award and Rani Rudramma Devi (for both men & women). [3]

Organisation

The Ministry of Women and Child Development is headed by Smt. Savitri Thakur, Minister; Mr. Indevar Pandey is the Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The activities of the Ministry are undertaken through seven bureaux. The Ministry has 6 autonomous organizations working under its aegis.

Subjects allocated to the ministry

Cabinet Ministers

No.PortraitMinister
(Birth-Death)
Constituency
Term of officePolitical partyMinistryPrime Minister
FromToPeriod
1 Renuka Chowdhury in 2008 (cropped).png Renuka Chowdhury
(born 1954)
MP for Khammam

(MoS, I/C)
30 January
2006
22 May
2009
3 years, 113 days Indian National Congress Manmohan I Manmohan Singh
2 Krishna Tirath releasing the "Draft White Paper", at the valedictory session (cropped).jpg Krishna Tirath
(born 1955)
MP for North West Delhi

(MoS, I/C)
28 May
2009
26 May
2014
4 years, 363 days Manmohan II
3 Maneka-Gandhi.jpg Maneka Gandhi
(born 1956)
MP for Pilibhit
27 May
2014
30 May
2019
5 years, 4 days Bharatiya Janata Party Modi I Narendra Modi
4 Smt. Smriti Irani in April 2023.jpg Smriti Irani
(born 1976)
MP for Amethi
31 May
2019
9 June
2024
5 years, 9 days Modi II
5 Annpurna Devi Minister (cropped).jpg Annpurna Devi
(born 1970)
MP for Kodarma
10 June
2024
Incumbent70 days Modi III

Ministers of State

No.PortraitMinister
(Birth-Death)
Constituency
Term of officePolitical partyMinistryPrime Minister
FromToPeriod
1 Krishna Raj with Radha Mohan Singh (cropped).jpg Krishna Raj
(born 1967)
MP for Shahjahanpur
5 July
2016
3 September
2016
60 days Bharatiya Janata Party Modi I Narendra Modi
2 Virendra Kumar Khatik with PM Modi (cropped).jpg Virendra Kumar Khatik
(born 1954)
MP for Tikamgarh
3 September
2017
30 May
2019
1 year, 269 days
3 Debasree Chaudhuri assuming office in 2019 (cropped).jpg Debasree Chaudhuri
(born 1971)
MP for Raiganj
31 May
2019
7 July
2021
2 years, 37 days Modi II
4 Mahendra Munjapara with PM Modi (cropped).jpg Mahendra Munjapara
(born 1968)
MP for Surendranagar
7 July
2021
9 June
2024
2 years, 338 days
5 Savitri Thakur assumed charge as the Minister of State for Ministry of Women and Child development.jpg Savitri Thakur
(born 1978)
MP for Dhar
10 June
2024
Incumbent70 days Modi III

See also

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References

  1. "DEMAND NO. 98 : Ministry of Women and Child Development" (PDF). Indiabudget.gov.in. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Homepage : Ministry of Women & Child Development". Wcd.nic.in. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  3. "Stree Shakti Puraskar" (PDF). Ministry of Women and Child Development. Retrieved 14 March 2014.