Smriti Irani assures State of support to women facing gender violence

HyderabadUnion Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Iraniassured Telangana to support women facing gender-based violence, during the zonal meeting on '8 Years, Achievements Impact on Women and Children' in the city on Monday. Minister for Tribal Welfare, Women and Child Welfare of Telangana, Satyavati Rathod was present.

The beneficiaries of schemes, including 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao', 'PM CARES', 'Sakhi One Stop Centres', 'PM Matriva Yojana' and 'Poshan Abhiyan' in Anganwadi centres, participated the meeting and shared their views.

Irani told the meeting that the experience shared by the beneficiaries has shown that when policies are implemented, in collaboration by the State, they can bring about a positive change in the lives of women. She said "about 36 One Stop Centers (OSC) had been sanctioned for Telangana. Of them 33 are already operational. I welcome fresh proposals from the State to increase the number of OSCs, if required."

Launched in 2015 the One Stop Centres scheme extends help to women facing gender-based violence in terms of medical aid, legal assistance, psychological counselling and temporary shelter." Irani appreciated the courage of one such beneficiary of Sakhi OSC who shared her experience of overcoming the trauma of domestic violence. She has become financially independent by running a small kirana shop.

The Union minister said "about 4,000 children were given financial assistance under 'PM CARES'. She lauded the resolve and positivity of beneficiaries who shared their gritty tales of overcoming hardships with the help of various schemes. Irani shared that 2.7 crore bank accounts under the Sukanya Samridhi Yojana (SSY) scheme have been opened so far. Over Rs.1 lakh crore has been deposited in them so far."

She also said over 19,000 villages were completely saturated under SSA which is testament to the government's commitment to women empowerment.

Satyavati Rathod opined that the combined efforts of the State and Central governments are yielding good results in terms of women empowerment and improvement in indices of child health in the State.