Chhattisgarh Women and Child Development Minister Ramshila Sahu has requested the Central Government to expand Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for empowerment of adolescent girls (RGSEAG) — ‘Sabla’ and Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY) to all the districts of the State .
Addressing a two-day national conference of women and child development ministers at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Saturday, Sahu said that ‘Sabla’ yojana aimed at overall development of adolescent girls has been functional in 10 districts of the State, while IGMSY has been functional in just three districts.
She urged the Centre to extend these two schemes to all the districts of Chhattisgarh to ensure better health of adolescent girls and pregnant women. The conference, inaugurated by Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi, took up major issues including re-structuring of Integrated Child Development Scheme, reform of Adoption process and mandatory registration of child care institutions.
Chhattisgarh Secretary (Women and Child Development Department) Dinesh Shrivastav and Director Kiran Koshal were also present at the conference.
Sahu said that Chhattisgarh is the first State to provide supplementary nutritional food to adolescent girls aged between 11 and 18. She said that over eight lakh 50 thousand girls have been benefitted in the state under schemes such as Kishori Shakti yojana and Sabla yojana. She added that over 26.62 lakh children and women have been getting supplementary nutritional food through ‘anganwadi and mini- anganwadi centers in the state.
She also demanded increase in anganwadi flexi fund from Rs1,000 per centre to 3,000 per centre for construction of own buildings for 70 per cent anganwadis.
Elaborating on the women and child development schemes of Chhattisgarh, she said that the Government gives Rs1 lakh to a girl child after completion of 18 years under ‘Noni Suraksha Yojana’ to put an end to female feticide and a 24 hrs complaint and integrated women centre have been running in the state to keep a check on exploitation of girls and women.
State Government has been running schemes like ‘Mukhyamantri Bal Sandarbh Yojana’, Dattak putrid suposhan yojana, suposhan chaupal etc to make the State malnutrition-free, she added.