Gandhinagar, 24 February, 2012

Gujarat Finance Minister Shri Vajubhai Vala today in his budget speech announced a special women’s economic zone in Sanand GIDC.

Shri Vala announced new women ITIs and 41 new Naari adalats.

Following are the announcement on Women and Child development in Shri Vala’s own words:

Nutrition

 The campaign against malnutrition is mainly conducted through Anganwadi centres. Anganwadi centrers must be strengthened in many ways so as to inculcate good habits in the children of extremely poor families of society and taking care of their health. A provision of ` 411.91 crore is made for construction of 12,045 anganwadi (Nandghar).

 Provision of ` 30.32 crore is made for repairing and re-equipping old buildings of Anganwadi in remote areas.

 A provision of ` 20 crore is made to establish bio-metric system in Aganwadi.

 Honorarium given to workers and helpers working in about 50,000 Aganwadi in State is to be increased by an amount of ` 250 and ` 100 respectively, with a total provision of ` 21 crore.

 An enlightened mother is the best hope to acquire freedom from the malaise of malnutrition. It is planned to conduct Courses on Nutrition in Colleges and Skill Enhancement Centers and to provide incentive to the trainees.

Health & Security

 A provision of ` 7.50 crore to purchase 50 new ambulances for extension of 108 service in areas, where this service have proved to be most useful for providing access to Institutional delivery services to the pregnant women living in the interior areas of the State.

 The rate of assistance per child is to be increased from ` 80 to ` 100 (with a limit of two children) and the assistance to widowed women is to be increased from ` 500 to ` 750 under Niradhar Vidhva Sahay scheme. Total provision of ` 61.46 crore.

 In the last 50 years, 35 women courts have been activated in Gujarat. As a significant step in women empowerment, provision of ` 3.58 crore has been made for 42 new women courts in 17 districts.

Socio-Economic Empowerment

 An unprecedented step to facilitate economic empowerment among women has been taken with the setting up of the Mission Mangalam. Illiterate and poor women have also become the active partners in economic development as beneficiaries of Mission Mangalam. To further this process of women empowerment, a provision of ` 45 crore has been made towards 5% interest assistance on the bank loan of ` 1000 crore now available to more than two lakh “Sakhi Mandals” having about 24 lakhs members.

 A provision of ` 10 crore has also been made for formation and development of Sakhi Mandals in the urban areas.

 It is planned to impart training to 40,000 women for self employment under “Mission Mangalam”; to create as many as 20,000 individual employment and also to cover 1.20 lakh women under farmers empowerment project. This programme is aimed at improving efficiency and enable women in the farm and allied sector to gain higher efficiency through labour- saving practices.

 In collaboration with private industries, it is proposed to introduce activities like pisciculture and sea-weed cultivation among the Sakhi Mandals in the coastal areas.

 It is also planned to provide necessary infrastructural assistance to the Milk Cooperatives wholly organized and managed by the women.

 With a view to imparting vocational training to the women of new generation as a part of their economic empowerment, a provision of ` 1.25 crore has been made to establish five new women ITI’s in the State.

 Having made landmark achievement in the field of women empowerment under a number of novel schemes in Gujarat, it is now planned to operationalise, for perhaps the first ever time, in the entire country, an independent industrial estate for units exclusively managed by the women. The project is to be spread over an area of 90,000 square metres in the economic zone for women in Sanand GIDC area.

 Gujarat has added a golden page in the history of democracy. History has been created by the formation of 251 Mahila Samras Gram Panchayat, that is to say, Village Panchayats wherein all the members are women and elected unanimously. This is a unique achievement in the so-called male dominated society and the villagers of such Panchayats are to be commended for having honoured women and added this facet to women empowerment. An assistance of ` 7.56 crore has already been provided to these Panchayats and a further provision of ` 1.50 crore is made to encourage these 251 women village panchayats.