The Women and Child Development Ministry on Thursday launched the Rajiv Gandhi Empowerment of Adolescent Boys scheme called Saksham, which is on the lines of Sabla for adolescent girls.
Union Minister of State for Women and Child Develop-ment, Krishna Tirath, said that looking at the increasing trend of young boys between 11- 18 years involved in crimes against women, it was now imperative to train the adolescents on how to respect girls and women.
“Discrimination against women should end and we hope that Rajiv Gandhi Empowerment of Boys under the ‘Saksham’ scheme will facilitate the process where adolescent boys will learn to respect and honour their mother, sisters and other women,” said Tirath.
“Under the scheme, boys will be trained at the anganwadi centres,” she said. Saksham-meaning self-reliant-aims at all-round development of adolescent boys to make them self-reliant, gender-sensitive and aware citizens, when they grow up.
The scheme will cover all adolescent boys (both school going and out of school) in the age-group of 11 to 18 years subdivided into two categories- 11-14 and 14-18 years. "In the first phase, Saksham scheme shall be implemented in 20 selected districts in seven States on a pilot basis benefitting nearly 6 lakh adolescent boys annually," she said. Budget allocation of `100 crore has been earmarked for 12th Five Year Plan. In 2014-15, an allocation of `25 crore is made for the scheme.
