Women and Child Development, Let us start with why is this kind of development necessary? Did you know women are much more influenced and affected by environmental decline and have poorer sanitization when compared to men? These topics were mostly overlooked since women do not talk about things like these and no one tends to notice, but not anymore. Women and child development as of 2018-19 has a budget of Rs. 24,700 crore (US$3.5billion).
The condition of a nation is well reflected by looking at the status of its women. The country, in which higher attention has been paid towards women and child care, becomes more developed than others – Jawaharlal Nehru
Women Development
This ministry’s vision is to protect and develop women to make them socially’ economically, mentally, and intellectually independent and to make them aware and guard their constitutional rights. They tend to support victimized and abuse women who struggle to have a voice of their own, like victims of domestic violence, dowry, sexual abuse, etc. Not only this ministry supports women but also tries to encourage women to have a workforce of their own, to support each other, and exercise greater decision-making power. Not only the government or the ministry and the women, but we also need men and boys to be the advocate for this much-needed change in society. The ministry will put out as many schemes and programs as they can, but women will only achieve equality when we, as a group work tirelessly towards it. Why is it that men are appreciated for the bare minimum and when women do it, it is considered as their ‘duty? Why is it that when men cook at home it is termed as ‘art’ when a woman does it, it is her ‘responsibility? The ministry has put out many effective schemes like Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahayog Yojana (IGMSY), Beti Bachao Baet Padhao (BBBP), ujjawala, and countless others with many acts to protect women from the evil practices that they have been the victim of for a long time now. If women worked shoulder to shoulder with men, we would not face an economic crisis and fewer people would go to bed hungry every day since women farmers can contribute as much as men to the food production in society if given proper attention and opportunities. It is high time that everyone works together for our nation’s best interest.
Child Development
We need a secure future for a developed country and for that we need to pay attention to child development. People out there are aware of women’s development because women, now, are vocal about their opinions and the things that are misogynistic and sexist, but children do not have that liberty. That’s because probably more than half of the time they might not be even aware of what is happening with them or what should they do and what is right or wrong. Child development is all about making kids mentally or psychologically, physically or biologically, and emotionally ready to face the world and make it a better place. Just like for women, the women and child ministry also put out numerous acts and schemes for children like Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS), The National Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), Integrated Child Protection Service (ICPS), etc. with the aim of converting a helpless child into an independent and self-sufficient adult who can give back as much as he/she can to the country. Countless children around the world, not just our country, the world, get pulled into evil and illegal practices like trafficking, prostitution, drug dealing, etc. and many of them are subjected to malnutrition, beggary, and no education. The noble prize winner Kailash Satyarthi has liberated more than 90,000 children from practices like these and that’s the number that came out, the number that we know about. This number might probably be far from true since there might be many children out there who do not have a voice and cannot do anything about it. We need to lend them a voice or teach them to use the one they own.
Conclusion
There are more negatives than positives in this mission of women and child development, for women to have their equality and for children to have their birthright. All the common and privileged people need to be aware of what is going on in the society and what is in everybody’s best interest and try to improve the conditions of the country that they live in.
Yukti Polke
(Volunteer)
