Krishna Tirath Presides Over Parliamentary Consultative Committee Meeting on Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme
New Delhi, July 17: Krishna Tirath, Minister for Women and Child Development presided over the Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting for the Rajiv Gandhi National Crèche scheme, here today. Also present during the meeting were Nikhil Kumar Choudhary, Sushmita Bauri, Jayshreeben Patel, J Jyotsana, Eknath M Gaikwad and Jhansi Lakshmi Bocha.
At the outset, the Minister highlighted the salient points of the scheme. She stated that the scheme targets children of working women and those other deserving women such as those who are sick and cannot take care of their children. This extends to children of working women in the organised and the unorganized sector equally. The crèche provides day care facilities to the children, along with supplementary nutrition and health care too with regular medial check-ups with immunization etc. However, taking congisance of the feedback that the scheme needs to be revamped to enhance its effectiveness, the Ministry has drawn up a proposal for the same after consultation and feedback from stakeholders, she stated.
The Minister stated that while the existing scheme is fully funded by the Central Government except for the supplementary nutrition which is shared between Central Government and the implementing agency/ NGO in ratio of 90:10, under the new proposal the Central Government will provide 90% of required funds for all components as per the norms of the Scheme and balance 10% will be borne by the implementing agency/NGO. This is expected to instate a feeling of ownership and stake within the implementing agency. Now each crèche will have two workers and one helper instead on one worker and one helper. The honorarium has been increased to Rs. 3000/- per worker (for two workers) and Rs. 1500/- per month for one helper. Earlier it was Rs. 2000/- per month combined for one worker and one helper. Also, while in the existing scheme Rs. 1217/- is provided per month by the Government for supplementary nutrition for 25 children @Rs. 2.08 per child for 26 days, this has been increased to Rs. 7371/- per month @Rs. 12/- per day which includes two times snack and one full meal everyday per child for 25 days for 20 children and Rs. 15/- per day for 5 malnourished children for 25 days.
A significant change that has been made in the scheme is that while the earlier scheme provided day care services for 0-6 year children of working and other deserving women provided the monthly income of both the parents does not exceed Rs. 12,000/-, the new scheme proposes to focus on children in the age group of 6 months to 6 years of working women in urban and semi-urban area who are employed for a minimum period of 15 days in a month, or 6 months in a year. Also, the new scheme provides better facilities in crèche that includes day care facilities including sleeping facilities, supplementary nutrition, growth monitoring, health check-up and immunization, early simulation (6 months- 3 years), and pre-school education for 3-6 years of children. Earlier the target group in a crèche was 0-6 years; now it has been extended to 6 months – 6 years. While the number of children per crèche remains 25, in the new scheme 40 percent of the children should be below 3 years of age.
The proposal also now includes grant of Rs. 3000/- per annum per crèche for Pre-School Kit, and rent of Rs. 4000/- per month in semi-urban areas and Rs. 7000/- per month in urban areas. In addition, Rs. 1500/- per month per crèche will be provided as administrative charges including expenditure on cleaning material, electricity, water, fuel and supervision. The non-recurring one-time grant has been increased to Rs. 20,000/- for new crèches, and Rs. 10,000/- for upgradation of existing crèches. Monitoring at the local level will now involve local SHGs, Mahila Mandals, women’s organizations etc.
Various suggestions were put forward by the attending parliamentarians which included the following- better screening of NGOs such that non-serious NGOs are kept away; while it is good to involve NGOs in provisioning of certain services, it is important to instate more effective and sturdier mechanisms of inspection, supervision and monitoring, and inclusion of the local MP/MLA in the monitoring committee; direction to the NGOs/agencies running the crèche to display the services that need to compulsorily provided at the day care centre in order to share information with the beneficiaries, as many times the mothers do not know of the grants that they receive and the services they are supposed to provide; regular medical care through government hospitals and doctors rather than depending on the medical care through doctors provided by the NGOs as small children need medical aid and care more frequently; training of the crèche workers in nutrition and child-care in association with universities.
At the outset, the Minister highlighted the salient points of the scheme. She stated that the scheme targets children of working women and those other deserving women such as those who are sick and cannot take care of their children. This extends to children of working women in the organised and the unorganized sector equally. The crèche provides day care facilities to the children, along with supplementary nutrition and health care too with regular medial check-ups with immunization etc. However, taking congisance of the feedback that the scheme needs to be revamped to enhance its effectiveness, the Ministry has drawn up a proposal for the same after consultation and feedback from stakeholders, she stated.
The Minister stated that while the existing scheme is fully funded by the Central Government except for the supplementary nutrition which is shared between Central Government and the implementing agency/ NGO in ratio of 90:10, under the new proposal the Central Government will provide 90% of required funds for all components as per the norms of the Scheme and balance 10% will be borne by the implementing agency/NGO. This is expected to instate a feeling of ownership and stake within the implementing agency. Now each crèche will have two workers and one helper instead on one worker and one helper. The honorarium has been increased to Rs. 3000/- per worker (for two workers) and Rs. 1500/- per month for one helper. Earlier it was Rs. 2000/- per month combined for one worker and one helper. Also, while in the existing scheme Rs. 1217/- is provided per month by the Government for supplementary nutrition for 25 children @Rs. 2.08 per child for 26 days, this has been increased to Rs. 7371/- per month @Rs. 12/- per day which includes two times snack and one full meal everyday per child for 25 days for 20 children and Rs. 15/- per day for 5 malnourished children for 25 days.
A significant change that has been made in the scheme is that while the earlier scheme provided day care services for 0-6 year children of working and other deserving women provided the monthly income of both the parents does not exceed Rs. 12,000/-, the new scheme proposes to focus on children in the age group of 6 months to 6 years of working women in urban and semi-urban area who are employed for a minimum period of 15 days in a month, or 6 months in a year. Also, the new scheme provides better facilities in crèche that includes day care facilities including sleeping facilities, supplementary nutrition, growth monitoring, health check-up and immunization, early simulation (6 months- 3 years), and pre-school education for 3-6 years of children. Earlier the target group in a crèche was 0-6 years; now it has been extended to 6 months – 6 years. While the number of children per crèche remains 25, in the new scheme 40 percent of the children should be below 3 years of age.
The proposal also now includes grant of Rs. 3000/- per annum per crèche for Pre-School Kit, and rent of Rs. 4000/- per month in semi-urban areas and Rs. 7000/- per month in urban areas. In addition, Rs. 1500/- per month per crèche will be provided as administrative charges including expenditure on cleaning material, electricity, water, fuel and supervision. The non-recurring one-time grant has been increased to Rs. 20,000/- for new crèches, and Rs. 10,000/- for upgradation of existing crèches. Monitoring at the local level will now involve local SHGs, Mahila Mandals, women’s organizations etc.
Various suggestions were put forward by the attending parliamentarians which included the following- better screening of NGOs such that non-serious NGOs are kept away; while it is good to involve NGOs in provisioning of certain services, it is important to instate more effective and sturdier mechanisms of inspection, supervision and monitoring, and inclusion of the local MP/MLA in the monitoring committee; direction to the NGOs/agencies running the crèche to display the services that need to compulsorily provided at the day care centre in order to share information with the beneficiaries, as many times the mothers do not know of the grants that they receive and the services they are supposed to provide; regular medical care through government hospitals and doctors rather than depending on the medical care through doctors provided by the NGOs as small children need medical aid and care more frequently; training of the crèche workers in nutrition and child-care in association with universities.
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