Ministry of Women and Child Development

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Ministry of Women and Child Development
Emblem of India.svg
Agency overview
JurisdictionIndiaRepublic of India
HeadquartersMinistry of Women and Child Development
Shastri Bhawan,
Dr. Rajendra Prasad Road
New Delhi
Annual budget24,700 crore (US$3.5 billion) (2018-19 est.)[1]
Ministers responsible
Websitewcd.nic.in [2]

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.

History[edit]

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 30.01.2006, the Department has been upgraded to a Ministry.[3]

Mandate[edit]

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.[3]

Policy initiatives[edit]

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.[3]

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).[4]

Organisation[edit]

The Ministry of Women and Child Development is headed by Smt. Smriti Irani, 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 organisations working under its aegis.

  • National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD)
  • National Commission for Women (NCW)
  • National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)
  • Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA)
  • Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB)
  • Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK)

NIPCCD and RMK are societies registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. CSWB is a charitable company registered under section 25 of the Indian Companies Act, 1956. These organisations are fully funded by the Govt. of India and they assist the Department in its functions including implementation of some programmes/schemes. The National Commission for Women was constituted as a national apex statutory body in 1992 for protecting and safeguarding the rights of women. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is a national level apex statutory body constituted in the March 2007 for protecting and safe guarding the rights of children. Central Adoption Resource Authority is the national central authority for regulating Inter-country Adoptions and facilitating domestic adoptions. CARA became a Statutory Body under the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.[3]

Subjects allocated to the ministry[edit]

  • Integrated Child Protection Scheme
  • Welfare of the family.
  • Women and Child Welfare and Coordination of activities of other Ministries and Organisation in connection with this subject.
  • References from the United Nations National Nutrition Policy, national Plan of Action for Nutrition and National Nutrition Mission.
  • Charitable and religious endowments pertaining to subjects allocated to this Department
  • Promotion and development of voluntary effort on the subjects allocated to this Department
  • Implementation of -
    • Immoral Traffic in Women and Girl Act. 1956 (as amended up to 1986) .
    • The Indecent Representation of Women (Prevention) Act, 1986 (60 of 1986).
    • The Dowry Prohibition Act. 1961 (28 of 1961)
    • The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 (3 of 1988), excluding the administration of criminal justice in regard to offences under these Acts.
  • Implementation of the Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles and Infant Food (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 1992 (41 of 1992).
  • Coordination of activities of Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE)
  • Planning, Research, Evaluation, Monitoring, Project Formulations, Statistics and Training relating to the welfare and development of women and children, including development of gender sensitive data base.
  • United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
  • Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB)
  • National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD)
  • Food and Nutrition Board
  • Food and Nutrition Board (FNB)
    • Development and popularization of subsidiary and protective foods.
    • Nutrition extension.
  • Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equity.
    • National Commission for Women.
    • Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK)
    • The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
    • Probation of Juvenile offenders.
    • Issues relating to adoption, Central Adoption Resource Agency and Child Help Line (Childline).
    • The Children Act, 1960 (60 of 1960).
    • The Child Marriage – Restraint Act, 1929 (19 of 1929).[3]

List of Ministers[edit]

S. No. Minister Potrait Tenure Political Party Prime Minister
1 Renuka Chowdhury
(MoS, Independent Charge)
The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Women & Child Development, Smt. Renuka Chowdhury addressing a Press Conference, in New Delhi on February 28, 2009.jpg 30 January 2006 22 May 2009 3 years, 112 days Indian National Congress
(United Progressive Alliance)
Manmohan Singh
2 Krishna Tirath
(MoS, Independent Charge)
The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Women and Child Development, Smt. Krishna Tirath addressing at the inauguration of a One-Day Awareness Camp on Socio-Economic Empowerment of Women, in New Delhi on July 23, 2010.jpg 28 May 2009 26 May 2014 4 years, 363 days
3 Maneka Gandhi Maneka Sanjay Gandhi addressing the inaugural session of "Consultation on National Nutrition Mission in India Accelerating Essential Nutrition Actions", in New Delhi on September 22, 2014.jpg 26 May 2014 31 May 2019 5 years, 5 days Bharatiya Janata Party
(National Democratic Alliance)
Narendra Modi
4 Smriti Irani The Union Minister for Textiles and Information & Broadcasting, Smt. Smriti Irani interacting with the media regarding the cabinet approval for the Integrated Scheme for Development of Silk Industry, in New Delhi (1).jpg 31 May 2019 Incumbent 4 years, 65 days

List of Ministers of State[edit]

Ministers of State For Women and Child Development
Minister of state Portrait Political party Term Days
Krishna Raj The Minister of State for Women and Child Development, Smt. Krishna Raj addressing at the presentation ceremony of the National Awards to Anganwadi Workers for the year 2014-15 and 2015-16, in New Delhi on December 22, 2016.jpg Bharatiya Janata Party 5 July 2016 3 September 2017 425 days
Virendra Kumar Khatik Virendra Kumar releasing the compilation of speeches, written by children of CCIs, at the closing ceremony of the weeklong festival ‘Hausla 2017’, in New Delhi.jpg 3 September 2017 30 May 2019 634 days
Debasree Chaudhuri Sushri Debasree Chaudhuri 5 March 2020.jpg 30 May 2019 7 July 2021 769 days
Mahendra Munjapara 7 July 2021 Incumbent 939 days

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. "DEMAND NO. 98 : Ministry of Women and Child Development" (PDF). Indiabudget.gov.in. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  2. "Meet the Minister of State - Ministry of Women & Child Development - GoI". WCD.access-date=15 September 2018.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "Homepage : Ministry of Women & Child Development". Wcd.nic.in. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  4. "Stree Shakti Puraskar" (PDF). Ministry of Women and Child Development. Retrieved 14 March 2014.

External links[edit]

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