The Maharashtra government has approved provision of 3% funds under the District Annual Plan for empowerment of women and children in every district through the Department of Women and Child Development, women and child development minister Yashomati Thakur said.

“As a result of this decision, out of the allocation of Rs 15,622 crore made by the state government to the District Planning Development Commission, nearly Rs 468 crore will be made available for various schemes to be implemented for Women and Child Development schemes,” said Thakur as she added that the state will implement a three-tier strategy wherein various schemes for the empowerment of women and child development, financial empowerment of women and integrated child development services will be undertaken for holistic development of women and children.

Through these schemes special care will be taken by the state government towards homeless, destitute, orphans, women victims of domestic violence as well as orphans and children in need of care, feeding mothers and adolescents.

“As the state government aims to empower women and children in the state it has been decided to bring various district-level offices of the WCD department under a single roof for which it will make available land through the collectorate in every district. It has been proposed to construct a Mahila and Bal Vikas Bhawan on these pieces of lands for which it was decided to undertake construction based on the Amravati pattern which has been approved on an experimental basis in the state. Funds required for this construction will be transferred directly to the Public Works Department through the District Planning Committee,” the minister said.
 
This scheme will also include the construction of government begging homes, maintaining existing begging homes, creating facilities for rehabilitation of construction workers and Devadasis. The 3% permanent funds received from the District Planning and Development Council (DPDC) will also be used for construction and maintenance of government inspection homes, government girls hostels, state-run shelters, and shelters for women which come under the Department of Women and Child Development.

For financial empowerment of women, Thakur said Mahila Bachat Gat Bhawan will be constructed to strengthen women self-help groups. A total of 36 vehicles will be provided to the District Women Child Development officer in every district. These vehicles will be used to carry goods produced by these women’s self-help groups and those produced by the Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal (MAVIM) to the local market.

The Integrated Child Development scheme will include constructing new Anganwadi centres, tube water supply, electricity supply, modernization of kitchens and expansion of the Anganwadi centre buildings and its repairs.  

In another development, the cabinet on Wednesday decided to amend the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2017, for small shops with less than 10 employees to have Marathi display boards.

The order is in line with its previous orders emphasizing the use of the Marathi language in day-to-day lives.

“The Maharashtra Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act will be amended for this. The decision was taken at the weekly cabinet meeting,” industries minister Subhash Desai, who also holds the Marathi language portfolio in the Uddhav Thackeray cabinet, said.

Desai said that the objective behind this move was to close a legal loophole that the owners of small shops exploit to avoid putting up Marathi signboards. Bigger commercial establishments are already required to comply with the order.

He added that the amendment will further mention that the fonts with name on signboards in the Devanagari script (in which Marathi is written) should not be smaller than that of other scripts.