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The Ministry of Women and Child Development, a branch of the
Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
, is an apex body for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to
women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...
and
child A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...
development in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. The current minister for the Ministry of Women and Child Development is
Smriti Irani Smriti Zubin Irani (''née'' Malhotra; born 23 March 1976) is an Indian politician and a former television actress and producer. She is a Minister in Union Cabinet of India since May 2019 currently administrating the Ministries of Women and C ...
having held the portfolio since 31 May 2019.


History

The Department of Women and Child Development was set up in the year 1985 as a part of the Ministry of Human Resource Development to give the much needed impetus to the holistic development of women and children. With effect from 30 January 2006, the Department has been upgraded to a Ministry.


Mandate

The broad mandate of Ministry is to have holistic development of Women and Children. As a nodal Ministry for the advancement of women and children, the Ministry formulates plans, policies and programmes; enacts/ amends legislation, guides and coordinates the efforts of both governmental and non-governmental organisations working in the field of Women and Child Development. Besides, playing its nodal role, the Ministry implements certain innovative programmes for women and children. These programmes cover welfare and support services, training for employment and income generation, awareness generation and gender sensitization. These programmes play a supplementary and complementary role to the other general developmental programmes in the sectors of health, education, rural development etc. All these efforts are directed to ensure that women are empowered both economically and socially and thus become equal partners in national development along with men.


Policy initiatives

For holistic into development of the child, the Ministry has been implementing the world's largest outreach programme of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) providing a package of services comprising supplementary nutrition, immunization, health check-up and referral services, pre-school non-formal education. There is effective coordination and monitoring of various sectoral programmes. Most of the programmes of the Ministry are run through non-governmental organisations. Efforts are made to have more effective involvement of NGOs. The major policy initiatives undertaken by the Ministry in into the recent past include universalisation of ICDS and Kishori Shakti Yojana, launching a nutrition programme for adolescent girls, establishment of the Commission for protection of Child Rights and enactment of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act. The ministry also gives the annual
Stree Shakti Puraskar The Nari Shakti Puraskar is an annual award given by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India to individual women or to institutions that work towards the cause of women empowerment. It is the highest civilian hon ...
in six categories, namely Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar, Kannagi Award, Mata Jijabai Award, Rani Gaidinliu Zeliang Award, Rani Lakshmi Bai Award and Rani Rudramma Devi (for both men & women).


Organisation

The Ministry of Women and Child Development is headed by Smt.
Smriti Irani Smriti Zubin Irani (''née'' Malhotra; born 23 March 1976) is an Indian politician and a former television actress and producer. She is a Minister in Union Cabinet of India since May 2019 currently administrating the Ministries of Women and C ...
, Minister; Mr. Indevar Pandey is the Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The activities of the Ministry are undertaken through seven bureaux. The Ministry has 6 autonomous organizations working under its aegis. *National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD) *National Commission for Women (NCW) *National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) *Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) *Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB) *Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) NIPCCD and RMK are societies registered under the
Societies Registration Act, 1860 The Societies Registration Act, 1860 is a legislation in India which allows the registration of entities generally involved in the benefit of society – education, health, employment etc. The British Indian Empire, with a wish to encourage such ...
. CSWB is a charitable company registered under section 25 of the Indian Companies Act, 1956. These organisations are fully funded by the Govt. of India and they assist the Department in its functions including implementation of some programmes/schemes. The National Commission for Women was constituted as a national apex statutory body in 1992 for protecting and safeguarding the rights of women. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights which is a national level apex statutory body constituted in the March 2007 for protecting and safe guarding the rights of children. Central Adoption Resource Authority is the national central authority for regulating Inter-country Adoptions and facilitating domestic adoptions. CARA became a Statutory Body under the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.


Subjects allocated to the ministry

* Integrated Child Protection Scheme *Welfare of the family. *References from the United Nations National Nutrition Policy, national Plan of Action for Nutrition and National Nutrition Mission. *Charitable and religious endowments pertaining to subjects allocated to this Department *Promotion and development of voluntary effort on the subjects allocated to this Department *Implementation of - **Immoral Traffic in Women and Girl Act. 1956 (as amended up to 1986) . **The Indecent Representation of Women (Prevention) Act, 1986 (60 of 1986). **The Dowry Prohibition Act. 1961 (28 of 1961) **The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 (3 of 1988), excluding the administration of criminal justice in regard to offences under these Acts. *Implementation of the Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles and Infant Food (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 1992 (41 of 1992). *Coordination of activities of Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE) *Planning, Research, Evaluation, Monitoring, Project Formulations, Statistics and Training relating to the welfare and development of women and children, including development of gender sensitive data base. *United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) *Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB) *National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD) *Food and Nutrition Board *Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) **Development and popularization of subsidiary and protective foods. **Nutrition extension. *Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality. ** National Commission for Women. **Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) **The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. **Probation of Juvenile offenders. **Issues relating to adoption, Central Adoption Resource Agency and Child Help Line (Childline). **The Children Act, 1960 (60 of 1960). **The Child Marriage – Restraint Act, 1929 (19 of 1929).


List of Ministers


Cabinet Ministers

*Note: MoS, I/C Minister of State (Independent Charge)


Ministers of State


See also

* Integrated Child Protection Scheme * Odisha State Child Protection Society * The Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY)


References


External links

* {{authority control Women and Child Development India, Women and Child Development Women in India India, Women and Child Development 1985 establishments in India Child welfare in India Ministries established in 1985 Women's rights in India