BJP in West Bengal under Dilip Ghosh has been claiming that women in the state do not feel safe and not much was being done for them by the state government. To counter this assertion, state women development minister Dr. Shashi Panja on Tuesday highlighted the achievements of the government led by Trinamool Congress (TMC) in empowering women since it came to power in 2011.
Dr. Panja told reporters present at a press conference, “CM-Mamata Banerjee is the first political leader in Bengal who spoke about women’s empowerment. She not only said but also started different projects to empower the women of Bengal.”
The minister further claimed that while crimes against women have been increasing in other states, the government led by Mamata Banerjee was always working to empower women. She pointed out with confidence, “If we start to give details of government projects helping women and girl children, then we will not be able to complete this press conference in a day.”
Dr. Panja also said that the chief minister has always given women the respect they deserve, further adding that the government has issued cards in the name of the oldest woman in a family as part of the Swasthya Sathi project.
She also added, “Last year, we started the Rupasree project for the women of Bengal to assist them during their marriage. Already in one year, 5.58 lakh women have taken this help under the Rupasree project. Also, under the Mamata Banerjee government, institutional birth became the highest.”
Highlighting the state government’s efforts to keep women safe, the minister said, “After 2011, we have built 48 women police stations across the state. Before 2011, there were no police stations for women in the state.” She also claimed that Mamata Banerjee started fast-track courts across the state to specifically enable hearing cases of atrocities and crimes against women.
Dr. Panja also recalled that the government’s most talked-about project was Kanyashree. She added that so far Rs 9,369 crore had been spent to fund the scheme.
The much talked about Kanyashree scheme was launched to improve the life and the status of the girls by helping economically backward families with cash so that those families do not arrange the marriage of their girl child before eighteen years of age because of economic problem. The purpose of this initiative is to uplift those girls who are from poor families and hence cannot pursue higher studies due to tough economic conditions. It had been given international recognition by UNICEF. The United Nations, on the occasion of UN Public Service Day, in 2017, had awarded the United Nations Public Services award to the Kanyashree of Bengal government.
The Kanyashree Prakalpa had received various national and international recognitions for its design and features of good governance. The most crucial award received by this scheme was the first place winner in UNPSA Award 2017 from Asia-Pacific category. It was also one of the finalists in GEM-Tech Awards 2016 organized by ITU and UN Women.
The Kanyashree scheme has two components-the first is an Annual scholarship of Rs. 1000.00, and the second one is a one-time grant of Rs. 25,000.00.
The annual scholarship is for unmarried girls aged 13–18 years enrolled in class VIII-XII in government recognized regular or equivalent open schools or vocational or technical training courses. Recently the bar of income has been withdrawn by Government of West Bengal, hence now every girl in the state can apply for that scheme.
TMC leaders and sources, while taking a dig at BJP, also pointed out that Banerjee was the most vocal leader against the BJP following the gangrape and murder of a Dalit woman in Hathras district in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh in September.
The author is a student member of Amity centre of happiness
