The Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGSEA) ‘SABlA’ is a centrally sponsored programme of Government of India, launched in April 2011 by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
The scheme aims at enabling the adolescent girls for self development and empowerment, improving nutrition and health status, promoting awareness about health, upgrading home based skills and imparting education.
Though it is being implemented in two districts of Uttarakhand, the director of School Education, CS Gwal was unable to provide information about the statistics related to the implementation of this scheme in the State. The apathy of officials is a major reason why many members of the target population in the State too are unaware of any such scheme.
The SABlA scheme is being implemented in 200 districts all over India while in Uttarakhand it is being implemented in Uttarkashi and Haridwar districts. When this correspondent telephoned Gwal, he first avoided speaking on the phone and later said that he was too busy to provide the information sought. Many rural women visiting the State capital were unaware of the scheme being implemented in the State. They showed no interest in knowing more about the scheme.
According to observers, due to the non-implementation of this scheme in most of the districts, the rural girls of these areas are deprived of the benefits. The target population is unable to benefit from the efforts to be undertaken as part of SABlA and lack the information and exposure to become self–dependent and employable. Officials state that public ignorance in Dehradun about the scheme is not a cause for concern as this scheme is not being implemented in this district. However, critics point out that the officials of the departments are not forthcoming about the activities being conducted under the scheme and the statistics regarding the number of adolescent girls benefiting from the same.