Scheme launched to help women at state, district level: Maneka Gandhi

Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi on Saturday said that the Union government had launched a new scheme called the "Pradhan Mantri Mahila Shakti Kendra" to empower rural women through community participation.

The scheme, which will work at the national, state and district levels to create an environment in which women achieve their full potential, will run from 2017-18 to 2019-20, she said.

She was speaking at the Federation of Gujarat Industries' Excellence Award ceremony here.

She told the gathering that under the PMMSK scheme, State Resource Centres for Women would be provided in all states and Union Territories and District Level Centres for Women (DLCW) would be set up in 640 districts in a phased manner.

While 220 districts will get these centres during 2017-18, 220 more will get them in 2018-19 and the remaining 200 districts in 2019-20.

"Community engagement through college student volunteers is envisioned in 115 most backward districts where these students would create awareness among women about government initiatives," Gandhi said.

The minister said that a pilot project to test a "panic button" feature in mobile phones was currently underway in Uttar Pradesh, and once the results come in, the move would be replicated nationwide.

A panic button in the phone will enable women to send out a distress signal to a family member or police authorities so that they can receive help.

She informed that she had written to Union Minister for Home Affairs Rajnath Singh to reserve 33 per cent of posts in the police force for women in order to improve the sensitivity of police towards crime against women.

Speaking at the function, she said that camel milk was best suited for diabetics as it contained 52 units of insulin per litre, giving the body insulin in its most natural form.

She also met members of the Valimiki community and party workers as part of her visit here.