Government of India has approved a new scheme namely Mahila Shakti Kendra for implementation during 2017-18 upto 2019-20 to empower rural women through community participation. The Scheme is implemented with cost sharing ratio of 60:40 between centre and states except for North East and Special Category States where the ratio is 90:10. The scheme is envisaged to work at various levels and at the national level (domain based knowledge support) and state level (State Resource Centre for Women) technical support to the respective governments on issues related to women is provided. 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/ programmes as well as social issues. District Level Centre for Women (DLCW) has also been envisaged for 640 districts to be covered in phased manner. These centres to serve as a link between village, block and state level in facilitating women centric schemes and also give foothold for Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme at the district level.

The above Information was given by Minister of State for Women and Child Development, DR. VIRENDRA KUMAR in reply to an Unstarred Question in the Rajya Sabha, today.

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NB/PS