Parliament Question: Empowerment of Women and Children

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2213 ANSWERED ON 31.07.2026 EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN 2213. SHRI JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL: Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government is implementing various schemes for the welfare, protection, education, nutrition and empowerment of women and children in the country, if so, the details thereof; (b) whether funds have been allocated, released/utilized under the said schemes during the last three years and the current year, if so, the details thereof, scheme-wise and State/UT-wise including Bihar; (c) whether the Government has assessed the impact of said schemes on the socio-economic development of women and children in the country, if so, the details thereof; (d) whether any new initiatives/reforms have been introduced to improve the implementation, monitoring and outreach of the said schemes, if so, the details thereof; and (e) whether the Government proposes to expand coverage and enhance financial support under the said schemes and if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR) (a) to (e) Various schemes implemented by the Ministry of Women & Child Development for the welfare, protection, education, nutrition and empowerment of women and children in the country have been reviewed and clubbed into three Umbrella Missions, viz. (1) Mission Saksham Anganwadi & Poshan 2.0 for improving nutrition & health indicators (2) Mission Shakti, for safety, protection and empowerment of women; and (3) Mission Vatsalya, for protection, care and welfare of children in difficult circumstances. Details of the schemes are as under:(i) Saksham Anganwadi & Poshan 2.0 (Mission Poshan 2.0): In the 15th Finance Commission, components of nutritional support for children below the age of 6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers, Adolescent Girls (14 – 18 years); Early Childhood Care and Education [3-6 years]; Anganwadi infrastructure including modern, upgraded Saksham Anganwadi, Poshan Abhiyaan and Scheme for Adolescent Girls have been reorganised under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 (Mission Poshan 2.0). Under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, a package of six services are provided to the eligible beneficiaries i.e Supplementary Nutrition (SNP), Pre-school Non-Formal Education, Nutrition & Health Education, Immunization, Health Check-up, and Referral Services. Three of the six services, viz., Immunization, Health check-up and Referral Services are related to health and are provided through National Health Mission (NHM) & Public Health Infrastructure. Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 is a Centrally Sponsored scheme. Central Government is responsible for the overall planning and policy under the scheme whereas its day-to-day implementation falls under the ambit of State Government or UT administration. Further, Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) was revised from 01.04.2022 onwards and was subsumed under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0. The Scheme aims at providing nutritional support to Adolescent Girls (AGs) [14-18 years] for improving their health and nutritional status under the nutrition component and providing them IFA supplementation, Health check-up and Referral Service, Nutrition & Health Education and Skilling etc. fall under non- nutrition component of the Scheme. The targeted beneficiaries under the Scheme are AGs in the age group of 14 to 18 years in Aspirational Districts and all North Eastern States. (ii) Mission Shakti: The ‘Mission Shakti’ aims at strengthening interventions for women safety, security and empowerment. It seeks to focus on proposing strategies for improving convergence across Ministries/ Departments and at different levels of governance. Mission Shakti comprises of two sub-schemes ‘Sambal’ and ‘Samarthya’ for safety and security of women and empowerment of women respectively. The “Sambal” sub-scheme is for safety and security of women. It has the components of One Stop Centres (OSCs), Women Helpline (WHL), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) and Nari Adalat. • One Stop Centres (OSCs)- One Stop Centre (OSC) provides integrated and immediate support and assistance under one roof to women affected by violence and those in distress, both in private and public spaces all across the country. It provides services like medical aid, legal aid and advice, temporary shelter, police assistance and psycho-social counselling to needy women. • Women Helpline (WHL)- Women Helpline (WHL-181) provides 24-hour toll-free telecommunication services to support women in both emergency and non-emergency situations. It offers assistance to women affected by violence and provides information about government schemes and services all across the country.• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP)- Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme was launched on 22nd January 2015 to help address Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and related issues of empowerment of girls and women over a life cycle continuum. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme has transformed from policy initiative into national movement by mobilizing various stakeholders, including government agencies, media civil society and general public. • Nari Adalat- Nari Adalat scheme provides a platform for alternative grievance redressal for women at the gram panchayat level. The Adalats are mandated to help women in distress at the panchayat level in resolving smaller issues relating to domestic violence, and other gender-based violence by negotiation, mediation, and reconciliation with mutual consent for accessible justice. The “Samarthya” sub scheme is for empowerment of women. It has the components of Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), Shakti Sadan, Sakhi Niwas, Palna and SANKALP: Hub for Empowerment of Women (HEW). • Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY)- The PMMVY is a Centrally Sponsored Maternity Benefit Scheme under which cash incentives of ₹5,000/- is provided directly to the Bank/Post Office account of the beneficiary in Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode for first child. The eligible beneficiaries receive the remaining cash incentive, as per approved norms towards maternity benefit under Janani Suraksha Yojana after institutional delivery, so that on an average a woman gets ₹6,000/-. Cash incentive of ₹6,000/- is also provided under PMMVY to eligible beneficiaries for second child subject to the second child being a girl. • Shakti Sadan- Under the overarching ‘Mission Shakti’, erstwhile schemes of ‘Swadhar Greh’ for women in difficult circumstances and ‘Ujjawala Home’ for Prevention of Trafficking, have been merged w. e. f. 01.04.2022 and known as ‘Shakti Sadan Scheme’, which is an Integrated Relief and Rehabilitation Home-for women in distressful situations including trafficked women. It aims at creating a safe and enabling environment for the women in such difficult situations, to enable them to overcome the adverse circumstances. • Sakhi Niwas- The Sakhi Niwas Scheme (Working Women Hostel) is a demand driven centrally sponsored scheme, under which funds are released directly to the States/UTs for implementation of the scheme and aims to promote availability of safe and conveniently located accommodation for working women in urban, semi-urban and even rural areas where employment opportunity for women exist. • Palna- Palna Scheme is implemented with the aim of expanding the outreach of crèches to ensure that women everywhere have the opportunity to work and do not drop out from workforce because of care responsibilities. Palna aims to provide day-care crèche facilities to the children (06 months – 06 years). • SANKALP: Hub for Empowerment of Women (HEW) - The SANKALP: HEW (Hub for Empowerment of Women) which functions as a Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) for allcomponents of Mission Shakti. It serves as a single window system to bridge the information and knowledge gap regarding schemes and facilities available for women as well as guide them to avail the benefits and entitlements. (iii) Mission Vatsalya: Mission Vatsalya (erstwhile Child Protection Services Scheme (ICPS)) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) which is implemented through States/Union Territories (UTs) to deliver services for better outreach and protection for Children in Need of Care and Protection (CNCP) and Children in Conflict with Law (CCL) which include Institutional Care and Non-Institutional Care in a mission mode with the objective to: (i) Support and sustain Children in difficult circumstances (ii) Develop context-based solutions for holistic development of children from varied backgrounds (iii) Provide scope for green field projects for encouraging innovative solutions (iv) Cement convergent action by gap funding, if required. The scheme also provides for emergency outreach services (24x7) for children in difficult circumstances through Child Helpline (1098). The State-wise and year-wise details of the funds released under the schemes of the Ministry during the last three years and current year are at Annexure. NITI Aayog has got conducted a third-party evaluation of Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) in 2020 and again a third-party evaluation of all the schemes of the Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2025 for Financial Years 2019 to 2024. The studies found that the schemes of the Ministry are relevant. Initiatives undertaken to improve the implementation, monitoring and outreach of the schemes of the Ministry are as under: i. For last mile tracking of Service Delivery, Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) has developed Facial Recognition System (FRS) in Poshan Tracker Application for distribution of Take-Home Ration to ensure that benefit is given only to the intended beneficiary registered in Poshan Tracker. The Nominee Module has been introduced in Poshan Tracker to ensure uninterrupted delivery of Take-Home Ration (THR) to the beneficiaries; Pregnant Women, Lactating Mothers, and Adolescent Girls. If due to any reason, the registered beneficiary is unable to visit the Anganwadi Centre to receive their THR through FRS, she can nominate a nominee on her behalf to receive her THR. ii. New portal for PMMVY, which is completely paperless was launched in March 2023. As per earlier Guideline, physical forms were required to be filled and uploaded in the earlier PMMVY-CAS portal for onward process. In new system, physical application forms have been eliminated and complete online solution has been given.iii. Payments are through Adhaar Bridge Payment System [ABPS] as PMMVY portal is enabled for Aadhar-based biometric verification (by means of facial recognition) to confirm identity details of the applicants. iv. All the mandatory provisions like Aadhaar verification, DBT enablement of bank account etc. are checked at the time of registration for faster processing. v. Search and Track Status for all enrolled beneficiaries to check the approval and payment status of their applications. vi. Grievance Lodging and status module for all citizens to lodge any PMMVY related grievance. The Module directly sends the grievance to the implementing authorities thus saving time and leads to swifter resolution. vii. PMMVY toll-free and multi lingual helpline (1515) is available for PMMVY related enquiries and grievances. For transparency purposes, the Applicants/ beneficiaries receive SMS in one of the 12 languages at different stages such as registration of application, rejection of registration, payment etc. viii. MIS Data can be generated at State/ District/ Block/ Village/ Ward/ Project/ Sector/ Anganwadi level for detailed monitoring/ analysis. ix. Available database of the Pregnant Women & Lactating Mothers from Poshan Tracker is used to create a “Due List” of potential beneficiaries on PMMVY Portal accessible at AWW/ASHA level. Under the schemes of the Ministry, expansion of coverage and enhancement of financial support is made based on the schematic norms and Annual Programme Implementation Plan (APIP)/ Programme Approval Board (PAB) proposals received from the respective State/ UT during APIP meetings. *****Annexure ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN PARTS (A) TO (E) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2213 FOR 31.07.2026 BY SHRI JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL REGARDING ‘EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN’ State-wise and year-wise details of the funds released under the schemes of the Ministry during the last three years and current year I. Mission Saksham Anganwadi & Poshan 2.0 (Rs in crores) S.No. State/UT 2023- 2024- 2025- 2026-27 (as on 24 25 26 20.07.2026) 1 Andaman and Nicobar Islands 12.15 9.63 8.1 4.46 2 Andhra Pradesh 705.68 645.73 759.76 276.91 3 Arunachal Pradesh 162.06 102.61 118.5 68.52 4 Assam 2233.31 2482.34 1548.67 957.74 5 Bihar 1859.29 2262.92 905.43 281.23 6 Chandigarh 19.79 14.56 9.87 5.34 7 Chattisgarh 579.46 733.3 518.22 159.21 Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & 8 11.97 9.13 5.92 2.04 Diu 9 Delhi 161.81 160.41 150.21 71.19 10 Goa 13.95 13.44 19.74 6.17 11 Gujarat 1126.8 601.32 699.13 173.97 12 Haryana 225.78 232.69 67.12 65.35 13 Himachal Pradesh 301.09 313.07 328.59 94.66 14 Jammu & Kashmir 530.88 662.79 401.62 231.27 15 Jharkhand 664.3 496.95 429.26 36.9 16 Karnataka 912.96 886.85 863.64 149.96 17 Kerala 306.64 435.74 283.81 148.57 18 Ladakh 19.62 18.89 16.41 8.72 19 Lakshadweep 2.88 1.35 0.82 0 20 Madhya Pradesh 1123.11 1144.54 937.45 451.84 21 Maharashtra 1699.52 1368.84 1405.45 261.47 22 Manipur 201.28 342.87 199.99 112.18 23 Meghalaya 269.69 137.93 182.04 32.29 24 Mizoram 100.27 55.29 52.69 23.98 25 Nagaland 262.91 147.01 146.29 27.99 26 Odisha 968.8 948.16 911.27 336.05 27 Puducherry 4.48 3.68 4.02 1.2628 Punjab 307.87 265.48 190.73 69.13 29 Rajasthan 1091.96 741.85 843.51 175.06 30 Sikkim 33.49 18.07 18.21 14.62 31 Tamil Nadu 880.79 638.47 636.6 96.3 32 Telangana 507.87 430.76 209.2 154.86 33 Tripura 244.22 153.41 154.73 42.95 34 Uttar Pradesh 2668.69 2694.62 2145.42 808.56 35 Uttarakhand 288.24 216.33 271.05 99.1 36 West Bengal 1237.56 1513.8 1333.9 305.11 II. Mission Vatsalya (Rs. in crores) S. No. Name of the State 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 2026-27 (as on 26.07.2026) 1 Andhra Pradesh 25.01 44.03 38.72 2.01 2 Arunachal Pradesh 24.35 5.32 7.74 1.09 3 Assam 59.66 31.39 29.61 6.31 4 Bihar 65.18 53.35 51.95 8.00 5 Chhattisgarh 44.66 39.10 28.79 5.79 6 Goa 0.00 5.14 3.07 0.77 7 Gujarat 47.10 19.50 2.49 2.89 8 Haryana 16.17 6.40 7.85 0.73 9 Himachal Pradesh 21.15 37.68 22.56 2.32 10 Jammu & Kashmir 43.64 44.75 33.79 5.33 11 Jharkhand 37.66 18.73 31.64 0.65 12 Karnataka 90.94 86.48 45.48 2.88 13 Kerala 22.27 12.03 13.80 2.09 14 Madhya Pradesh 60.85 117.24 61.82 2.52 15 Maharashtra 95.38 144.97 78.90 3.93 16 Manipur 29.24 68.15 34.36 2.75 17 Meghalaya 31.28 22.30 42.75 6.09 18 Mizoram 53.09 37.06 33.65 2.34 19 Nagaland 29.28 33.92 25.66 1.91 20 Orissa 60.28 68.83 51.92 9.69 21 Punjab 15.44 14.76 13.94 0.97 22 Rajasthan 42.84 74.98 30.43 6.94 23 Sikkim 5.80 16.21 8.51 0.89 24 Tamil Nadu 128.70 122.82 89.14 18.15 25 Telangana 39.98 36.97 27.26 6.8426 Tripura 32.09 19.23 18.11 1.40 27 Uttar Pradesh 103.57 92.05 107.15 11.01 28 Uttarakhand 32.63 14.49 20.14 3.70 29 West Bengal 57.42 70.18 47.50 12.41 30 Andaman & Nicobar Island 2.68 3.13 3.60 0.20 31 Chandigarh 5.83 7.63 4.90 1.04 32 Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu 3.19 9.91 2.89 0.88 33 Delhi 3.89 7.62 6.63 1.40 34 Lakshadweep 0.36 0.00 0.09 0.00 35 Ladakh 4.39 3.81 3.20 0.54 36 Puducherry 5.67 4.17 3.21 0.68 III. Mission Shakti (Rs. in crores) 2025-26 2026-27 Sl State/UT 2023-24 2024-25 (as on No. 20.07.2026) 1 A&N Islands 3.04 0.88 1.70 0.45 2 Andhra Pradesh 76.56 50.50 47.73 18.84 3 Arunachal Pradesh 9.03 12.17 11.11 1.50 4 Assam 204.96 98.64 39.07 26.61 5 Bihar 1.58 151.29 218.22 38.49 6 Chandigarh 5.32 4.96 6.16 1.94 7 Chhattisgarh 30.40 79.56 94.72 15.79 8 DNHDD 2.31 5.26 2.64 1.24 9 Delhi 31.45 25.80 8.77 8.30 10 Goa 0.94 2.68 2.06 0.75 11 Gujarat 97.94 82.39 72.30 13.78 12 Haryana 11.71 38.78 33.52 0.29 13 Himachal Pradesh 19.85 31.98 27.30 7.66 14 Jammu and Kashmir 58.40 58.88 34.27 7.91 15 Jharkhand 13.66 39.51 56.77 6.91 16 Karnataka 144.85 174.93 85.62 18.99 17 Kerala 69.17 11.15 77.66 7.51 18 Ladakh-UT 1.87 1.93 2.28 0.00 19 Lakshadweep 0.69 0.27 0.50 0.00 20 Madhya Pradesh 136.15 279.83 131.73 52.59 21 Maharashtra 30.32 154.62 160.88 46.88 22 Manipur 40.65 26.23 27.84 3.8223 Meghalaya 7.58 10.25 21.91 3.94 24 Mizoram 14.44 19.59 22.55 5.81 25 Nagaland 18.63 26.56 12.10 6.06 26 Odisha 13.85 57.10 40.84 25.04 27 Puducherry 1.37 2.30 3.10 0.26 28 Punjab 42.89 38.05 38.43 4.94 29 Rajasthan 144.17 106.43 115.84 39.44 30 Sikkim 5.14 2.90 5.82 0.63 31 Tamil Nadu 44.48 124.85 159.36 38.94 32 Telangana 22.12 16.04 26.31 7.32 33 Tripura 14.53 13.59 16.51 3.24 34 Uttar Pradesh 40.02 34.81 34.39 49.32 35 Uttarakhand 41.80 28.07 49.11 11.03 36 West Bengal 7.20 6.42 7.92 1.44 *****