Scheme for women of minority communities

The scheme aims to impart training for interacting with government systems and intermediaries at all levels. 25 per cent of beneficiaries will be from non-minority communities

In a bid to empower women of minority communities, the Union government has evolved a scheme to equip them with the knowledge, tools and techniques needed for interacting with government systems, banks and intermediaries at all levels.

The proposal, called the ‘Scheme for Leadership Development of Minority Women,’ has been in the making since 2007-08 when it was first mooted by the Women and Child Development Ministry to ensure that the benefits of growth reached the deprived women among minority communities. This fiscal it was transferred to the Minority Affairs Ministry where it was recast in the form in which it was launched by Minister Salman Khursheed on Wednesday.

Though the scheme targets women from the five notified minority communities, the Ministry has decided that 25 per cent of the beneficiaries would be from the non-minority communities, as women – irrespective of their caste and creed – make up the “marginalised majority” in most communities. This has been done to “further strengthen the mosaic of plurality in society.”

Through the scheme, the Ministry hopes to embolden women of minority communities to move out of the confines of their homes and community and assume leadership roles, assert their rights – collectively or individually – in accessing services, and claiming their due share of development.

Training

The scheme will be implemented through local organisations with experience to impart such training and access to these communities. The scheme would also require staffers of such organisations to visit the locality periodically to provide ‘nurturing/hand-holding service.’

The training modules would necessarily cover Central and State government schemes in education, health, hygiene, nutrition, immunisation, family planning, disease control, public distribution system, drinking water and electricity supply, sanitation, housing, role of women in local self government, Right to Information Act and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme besides any scheme that may be evolved from time-to-time.