VP Radhakrishnan Reviews Key Women & Child Development Initiatives

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 10th Oct: Vice-President C. P. Radhakrishnan today met with Union Minister of Women & Child Development Annpurna Devi, Union Minister of State Savitri Thakur, and senior ministry officials at Parliament House to review the functioning and key initiatives of the Ministry of Women & Child Development.

During the meeting, the Vice-President was briefed on the Ministry’s flagship schemes including Saksham Anganwadi & Poshan 2.0, Mission Vatsalya, and Mission Shakti, aimed at improving nutrition, safety, and empowerment for women and children. Officials highlighted improvements in child health indicators such as reduced stunting and underweight prevalence, enhanced Anganwadi infrastructure, and strengthened institutional and non-institutional care mechanisms including adoption, foster care, and aftercare services.

Radhakrishnan appreciated the Ministry’s digital reforms, such as mobile applications and facial recognition technology, which ensure efficient and transparent delivery of benefits to eligible beneficiaries. He emphasized minimizing fund leakages and using technology to enable expansion of welfare programmes.

He also stressed the importance of grassroots-level motivation, proper supervision, and region-specific awareness campaigns to ensure schemes reach all intended beneficiaries. Drawing from his experience as Governor of Maharashtra and Jharkhand, he suggested sharing best practices from different states to strengthen nationwide implementation of women and child welfare programmes.

The Vice-President lauded initiatives supporting women’s safety and empowerment, including One-Stop Centres, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Women Helpline, Nari Adalats, Sakhi Niwas, Shakti Sadan, and the She-Box portal. He highlighted the importance of addressing sexual harassment in workplaces and generating awareness about legal consequences of crimes against women and children.

Radhakrishnan appreciated collaborative efforts between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Women & Child Development, particularly in linking Anganwadi Centres with private pre-primary schools, and urged a focused approach for tribal communities, especially in densely populated tribal regions.

He welcomed the role of spiritual and non-governmental organizations in providing institutional and non-institutional care for children and stressed the need for robust monitoring to optimize volunteer networks. He also noted the increase in child adoptions and urged better coordination with district administrations to ensure safe placements.

On social welfare programmes, the Vice-President appreciated the PM CARES Fund’s support for children orphaned during COVID-19 and natural disasters, the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) with direct DBT transfers, and the expansion of government hostels for working women to address accommodation and safety concerns. He underlined the importance of intensive awareness campaigns to combat child marriage and appreciated enhanced funding and successful implementation under the Nirbhaya Fund.

C. P. Radhakrishnan expressed happiness over the expanding opportunities for women in education, employment, and entrepreneurship. He called for continuous supervision, motivation, and collaboration across all levels to further strengthen women and child welfare initiatives across India.