New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who announced the Union Budget 2020-21 on Saturday, said that the government has set aside Rs 30,000 crore for the Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry, which is a 14 per cent increase over the 2019-20 financial year.
The government also raised the total amount allocated to the social services sector to Rs 4,036.49 crore while the budget for the National Nutrition Mission was increased to Rs 3,700 crore.
The allocation for the 'One Stop Centre' scheme saw a major boost from Rs 204 crore in last fiscal to Rs 385 crore this fiscal. The government also gave a boost to the maternity benefit and child protection services in the budget.
The allocation for the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), which is a maternity benefit scheme, was also increased to Rs 2,500 crore. Under the programme, Rs 6,000 is given to pregnant women and lactating mothers for the birth of the first living child.
The allocation for the Child Protection Services programme under the Integrated Child Development Services has been increased to Rs 1,500 crore from Rs 1,350 crore.
A sum of Rs 30,007.10 crore has been earmarked for the WCD Ministry for the next financial year, a 14 per cent increase over Rs 26,184.50 crore allocated to it last year. A major chunk of the sum, Rs 20,532.38 crore, is for 'anganwadi' services.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet project 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' has been allocated Rs 220 crore in the current financial year. The allocation for the Mahila Shakti Kendras has been doubled from Rs 50 crore to Rs 100 crore. The total allocation for the centrally sponsored schemes was Rs 29,720.38 crore, a boost of Rs 3,804 crore from the last fiscal.
The allocation for the National Creche Scheme has also been increased from Rs 50 crore to Rs 75 crore. The scheme aims to enable working women to safely leave their children in crches while they are away at work. Similarly, the allocation for Working Women's Hostel scheme has been tripled from Rs 45 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 150 crore in 2020-21.
On the issue of providing safety for all women, the budget for Ujjawala, a scheme for prevention of trafficking, rescue and rehabilitation of the victims, has been increased from Rs 20 crore to Rs 30 crore. The total budget under the Mission for Protection and Empowerment of Women was increased from Rs 961 crore to Rs 1,163 crore.
(With PTI inputs)
Posted By: Aalok Sensharma