Mamata Banerjee may be facing fire due to the Gorkhaland Riots happening in West Bengal with many politicians criticizing her for her inability to come up with a peaceful resolution with the Gorkha people but her 2013 scheme for girls welfare has certainly caught the eye of the United Nations earning her the United Nations Public Service Award at The Hague.
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| Mamta Banerjee (File Photo) |
So how did she win this award for this particular scheme?
Let's first have a look at the main objectives behind this plan - promotion of education for the girl child, prevention of underage marriage. These 2 ideas seem quite simple and form the heart of the Kanyashree initiative however there is a bigger picture behind why this plan succeed.
Child trafficking is a big menace in West Bengal where female children are the most common victims of this menace. Many fall prey to this and Child Labour due to lack of income among families which is a common scenario in many parts of India as well. The Kanyashree initiative offers monetary incentives to all girl children registered under this scheme provided they are enrolled in an institution which includes a wide array of options from Schools to Vocational training as well. This has made a great impact on the poorer section of the society who are encouraged to send their girls to pursue their education which will earn them incentives which get credited to the bank account of the girl which she then case use as per her convenience. Secondly, another masterstroke behind this simple strategy is that the incentives are only received provided the girl does not marry before the age of 18. A separate incentive is then available once the girl gets married.
The Kanyashree scheme's strategy is extremely convincing on paper and credit has to be given to the Mamata Banerjee led government for delivering an impressive outreach of about 40 Lakh girls who are enrolled under this scheme, a number which is highly impressive considering the duration of the scheme being just 4 years. Apart from the monetary incentives, a great approach has been the regular awareness drives, Kanyashree clubs and selection of eminent female personalities to inspire girls across the state.
The scheme's success is a perfect case study for the other states as well as the Central Government to look into to further consolidate India's efforts to empower its women.