Bhopal, May 26 (Inditop) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has issued instructions to carry out a state-wide awareness campaign focused on schemes of women empowerment, official sources said Tuesday.
Reviewing the progress of activities of Woman and Child Development Department Monday, the chief minister told senior officers including the principal secretary to undertake field tours to apprise themselves of the ground realities of the implementation of departmental schemes and announcements made at the “Mahila Panchayat”.
He also asked them to initiate the necessary steps for unification of women’s desk, women’s helpline and help desk of Ushakiran Yojana under one roof and to keep contractors away from the nutritious food supply system while ensuring adequate benefits to the scheme’s beneficiaries.
Telling the officers he would shortly review the strategy to check the menace of malnutrition, Chouhan also asked the officers to submit a draft on a new, state-level nutritious food policy.
Officials said all the 12 announcements of the Mahila Panchayat have been implemented. These include introducing gender budgeting in 21 departments along with implementing “Ladli Laxmi Yojana”, providing legal assistance to women if needed, raising of a women’s battalion and 10 per cent reservation for women candidates in the police force and increasing reservation for women from 33 per cent to 50 per cent in local bodies, according to an official release.
Principal Secretary (Woman and Child Development) Tinu Joshi, Commissioner (Women and Child Development) Kalpana Shrivastava, Secretary to the Chief Minister, Anurag Jain and other officials concerned attended the meeting.
rounak