Centre has agreed to allocate Rs 5,439 lakh to scheme for empowerment of rural women: WCD MoS Virendra Kumar

New Delhi: The Centre has approved Rs 5,439.14 lakh for a new scheme aimed to empower rural women through community participation and awareness generation about government programmes, Women and Child Development Minister of State Virendra Kumar has informed Parliament.

The Mahila Shakti Kendra (MSK) was launched in November 2017 for implementation during financial year 2017-18 upto 2019-20. It is planned to be implemented at both national and state level, Kumar told the Lok Sabha.

Representational image. Reuters

"Community engagement through college student volunteers is envisioned in 115 aspirational districts as part of the block level initiatives. Student volunteers are to play an instrumental role in awareness generation regarding various important government schemes and programmes as well as social issues," Kumar said.

The funds allocated under the scheme during financial year 2017-18 and 2018-19 are Rs 5,439.14 lakh and Rs 5,216.86 lakh respectively, he said.

The scheme is being implemented with a funding ratio of 60:40 between the Centre and state government except North East and special category states where the ratio is 90:10.

District Level Centre for Women (DLCW) has also been envisaged for 640 districts to be covered in phased manner.

These centres are to serve as a link between village, block and state level in facilitating women centric schemes and also give foothold for the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme at the district level.