The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved a new scheme — Mahila Shakti Kendra — to empower rural women with an outlay of Rs 3,636.85 crore, with a Central share of Rs 3,084.96 crore during the period 2017-18 to 2019-20. It also approved the expansion of an umbrella scheme on women’s protection and empowerment for the period 2017-18 to 2019-20.
The objectives of the scheme include improvement in child sex ratio, ensuring survival, protection and education of the girl child, to provide an interface to rural women to avail of entitlements, an official release said.
The scheme also envisages engaging student volunteers for community service and to serve as “agents of change”, the release added.