The Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG) Sabla is a centrally sponsored program of the Government of India initiated on 1 April 2011 under the Ministry of Women and Child Development. [1]
The objectives of the program are:
An integrated package of services is to be provided to adolescent girls as follows:
The program would cover adolescent girls (only covered out of school girls) 11–18 years old under all Integrated Child Development Services projects in 200 selected districts in all states and UTs in the country. The target group would be subdivided into 11-15 and 15–18 years of age. [2]
Krishna Tirath is an Indian politician from INC. She was a member of the 15th Lok Sabha of India representing the North West Delhi constituency of Delhi. She was Minister of State in Ministry of Women and Child Development in the second Manmohan Singh ministry. She left the Indian National Congress (INC) political party, and on 19 January 2015 she joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Later on in March 2019 she rejoined the Indian National Congress.
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 and is divided into three categories: non-contributory and tax-payer-funded, employer-funded and lastly, joint-funded. The system has since been universalised with the passing of The Code on Social Security, 2020. These cover most of the Indian population with adequate social protection in various situations in their lives. The Indian social security system is considered to be one of the most generous in the world amongst developing countries. The Central Government of India's social security and welfare expenditures are a substantial portion of the official budget and as well as the budgets of social security bodies, and state and local governments play roles in developing and implementing social security policies. Additional welfare measure systems are also uniquely operated by various state governments. The government uses the unique identity number (Aadhar) that every Indian possesses to distribute welfare measures in India. The comprehensive social protection system of India can be categorised as the follows: social assistance and mandatory social security contributory schemes mostly related to employment. The Code on Social Security, 2020 is part of the Indian labor code that deals with employees' social security and have provisions on retirement pension and provident fund, healthcare insurance and medical benefits, sick pay and leaves, unemployment benefits and paid parental leaves. The largest social security programs backed by The Code on Social Security, 2020 are the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation for retirement pension, provident fund, life and disability insurance and the Employees' State Insurance for healthcare and unemployment benefits along with sick pays. There is also the National Pension System which is increasingly gaining popularity. These are funded through social insurance contributions on the payroll. While the National Food Security Act, 2013, that assures food security to all Indians, is funded through the general taxation. With the passing of the social security code by the Indian Parliament, the fragmented social security system was universalised, resembling the social security systems of most developed countries.
Prime Minister’s New 15 point Programme for minorities is a programme launched by Indian government for welfare of religious minorities in furtherance of reports by committees such as the Sachar Committee Report that highlighted that minorities, especially Muslims, in the country were often in a worse socio-economic and political condition than communities such as the Scheduled Casts and Scheduled tribes communities that have been oppressed over millennia through the caste system. It pegged the status of minorities on various indicators such as nutrition, health, education et al. of minorities and specially Muslims at an abysmally poor level. The 15 point program was the government's response to these finding by laying down guidelines to target minorities in schemes and entitlements that are already in place and designing and executing new schemes aimed at the empowerment of these groups. The programme advocated allocating 15% of plan outlays of welfare schemes identified under the 15 point programme. Mainly, issues of education, credit, housing, employment and communal harmony fall under its ambit.
An Anganwadi is a type of rural child care centre in India. They were started by the Indian government in 1975 as part of the Integrated Child Development Services program to combat child hunger and malnutrition. Anganwadi in Hindi means "courtyard shelter" in English.
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 Smriti Irani having held the portfolio since 31 May 2019.
UNICEF Indonesia is one of over 190 national offices of the United Nations Children’s Fund. As one of the first UNICEF offices established in Asia, UNICEF Indonesia has been on the ground since 1948 to uphold the rights of children in the vast archipelago, including their right to education, healthcare and protection from abuse and exploitation. It also advocates for political change in support of children, and works with partner organizations from the public, charity and private sectors, to effect change.
The Comprehensive Rural Health Project (CRHP) is a Non Profit, Non-Governmental Organisation located in the Ahmednagar District of Maharashtra State in India. The organization works with rural communities to provide community-based primary healthcare and improve the general standard of living through a variety of community-led development programs, including Women's Self-Help Groups, Farmers' Clubs, Adolescent Programs, and Sanitation and Watershed Development Programs. CRHP was founded in 1970 by Dr.Raj and Dr.Mabelle Arole, who conceived the Organisation's model while on a Fulbright Scholarship in Maharashtra. The work of CRHP has been recognized by the Government of Maharashtra and UNICEF, as well as being introduced to 178 countries across the world. The purpose of CRHP is to help provide healthcare to the poor.
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 2005 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.
Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY) is a rural development programme launched by the central government in India in the financial year 2009–10 for the development of villages having a higher ratio of people belonging to the scheduled castes through convergence of central and state schemes and allocating financial funding on a per village basis.
Mithu Alur is the founder chairperson of The Spastic Society of India – now rechristened ADAPT – Able Disable All People Together. She is an educator, disability rights activist, researcher, writer and published author on issues concerning people with disability in India.
Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), previously known as the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana, is a maternity benefit program run by the government of India. It was originally launched in 2010 and renamed in 2017. The scheme is implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. It is a conditional cash transfer scheme for pregnant and lactating women of 19 years of age or above for the first live birth. It provides a partial wage compensation to women for wage-loss during childbirth and childcare and to provide conditions for safe delivery and good nutrition and feeding practices. In 2013, the scheme was brought under the National Food Security Act, 2013 to implement the provision of cash maternity benefit of ₹6,000 (US$75) stated in the Act. Presently, the scheme is implemented on a pilot basis in 53 selected districts and proposals are under consideration to scale it up to 200 additional 'high burden districts' in 2015–16. The eligible beneficiaries would receive the incentive given under the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) for Institutional delivery and the incentive received under JSY would be accounted towards maternity benefits so that on an average a woman gets ₹6,000 (US$75)
Under Article 15(3), the Constitution of India allows for positive discrimination in favor of women. The article, under right to equality, states that: "Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any special provision for women and children." In addition, the Directive Principles of State Policy 39(A) states that: "The State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing that the citizens, men and women equally, have the right to an adequate means of livelihood."
Prerana is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that works in the red-light districts of Mumbai, India to protect children vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking. It was established in 1986.
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.
The Ghana Education Service (GES) is a government agency under the Ministry of Education responsible for implementing government policies that ensure that Ghanaians of school-going age irrespective of their ethnicity, gender, disability, religious and political dispositions receive quality formal education. The Ghana Education Service is governed by a fifteen-member council called the GES council.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a considerable impact on female education. Female education relates to the unequal social norms and the specific forms of discrimination that girls face. In 2018, 130 million girls worldwide were out of school, and only two out of three girls were enrolled in secondary education. The COVID-19 pandemic may further widen the gaps and threatens to disrupt the education of more than 11 million girls. In addition, girls are less likely to have access to the Internet and online learning.
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.