Kanyashree Plus Activities To Be Held In All Districts Every Month: Minister

To empower adolescent girls with knowledge skills for social transformation, the West Bengal Women and Child Development and Social Welfare Department has decided to hold Kanyashree Plus activities in all districts of the state every month, minister Shashi Panja said. "We are bringing in all the initiatives of the Kanyashree Plus initiatives under one umbrella and asked every district administration to hold such activities every month. These are non-cash activities," the Women and Child Development minister said. 

Kanyashree Plus is a multidimensional program focused not only on empowering adolescent girls but also seeks to generate opportunities to improve their economic condition. The department on Thursday held discussions on adolescent empowerment in the state at a workshop -- "Convergence in Adolescent Programming and District Action Plans Against Child Marriage" -- with senior officials of the department, representatives from different agencies like CINI India, Childline, CRY and members of the state unit of Unicef.

The minister said that discussions were held on forming a district action plan against child marriages and raising the awareness level of people surrounding the issue. "We held discussions on forming another child protection committee to cater to issues between villages and blocks and another between ward and borough. They will look after child marriages, trafficking, also on whether girls are going to the schools besides they are anemic or not," she said.

At the workshop, discussions were also held on 'foster care guidelines'. "There are families who have biological children but are willing to take care of the children of others who are facing certain issues like separation or the mother is mentally retarded. We are planning to formulate one guideline for it and send it to the districts so that no child is left unattended," the Panja said. At the program, she also launched publications on 'menstrual hygiene tracker', 'financial literacy module', 'guidelines for district plans for ending child marriage' and the 'West Bengal guidelines on foster care 2021'.