Centres approves 1500 more anganwari centres for J and K

Srinagar, June 25 (UNI) The Centre today announced 1500 more anganwari centres for Jammu and Kashmir which is in addition to the already approved 13500 such centres.

Addressing a news conference here, Union Minister of State for Women and Child Development Renuka Choudhary said at present 18 lakh anganwari centres were already functioning across India.

She said her Ministry has approved additional 1500 anganwari centres for Jammu and Kashmir. More than 13500 anganwari centres have already been approved for the state under the first two phases, she added.

The Union Minister announced two projects of aromatic herbs production and mushroom cultivation for the state, saying it would benefit empowerment of women.

Five hostels for working women have also been approved by the Union Ministry for Jammu and Kashmir, she said, adding two have already been completed while the remaining were under execution.

The Union Minister said India has given a lead to the entire world by floating the idea of gender budgeting to earmark finances for welfare of women.

Ms Choudhary said this idea has been well received at global level and in Uganda Conference on women development, many counties have shown keen interest in implementing it in their countries.

In the country, 52 departments of various ministries have already made provisions of gender budgeting in this programmes, she added.

Ms Choudhary said her Ministry was persuading central police department to earmark 30 per cent reservation for women. The Chief Ministers of all states would be asked to provide this reservation to the women in the respective police departments, she added.

The Union Minister said for empowerment of women another innovative measure of micro financing has been put in place in the country which has shown encouraging results and has brought down domestic violence and gender abuses considerably.

Under the micro-financing concept, women were being provided with soft loans to run profit-yielding small ventures, she added.

Ms Choudhary said the country also has to face the menace of women trafficking which required focused attention at all levels to curb the scourge. She appealed to all the citizens of the country to help strengthen endeavours of the government in eradicating this evil from the society.

The Union Minister lauded the women of Jammu and Kashmir for keeping their morale high while working in difficult and adverse situations during the period of turmoil.

UNI