Itanagar, September 30 (PTI): Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Wednesday reviewed the implementation of important Central Schemes under the Women and Child Development (WCD) and Social Justice, Empowerment and Tribal Affairs (SJETA) Departments in the state.
Departmental officials led by the respective secretaries gave details of the three important Central programmes being implemented in the state Ekalavya Model Residential School (EMRS) , Rashtriya Poshan Abhiyan and Pradhan Mantri Matri Vandana Yojana by the SJETA and WCD departments, an official release said.
Officials of the Social Justice, Empowerment and Tribal Affairs department informed the chief minister that the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs has approved seven schools under the Ekalavya Model Residential School for the state and three such schools are functioning and the rest are under construction.
Of the three functional EMRS schools, two are at Bana in East Kameng and one at Lumla in Tawang district.
The officals said the under construction schools are located at Kampu in Kurung Kumey, Khela in Tirap, Tirbin in West Siang, Medo in Lohit and Dambuk in Lower Dibang Valley districts, which are supposed to be completed by March next year.
The scheme has a target that by the year 2022, every block with more than 50 per cent ST population and at least 20,000 tribal persons, will have an EMRS. These schools will be on par with Navodaya Vidyalaya and will have special facilities for preserving local art and culture besides providing training in sports and skill development.
The officials further informed that five more schools in the state are under process for approval by the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry. Rashtriya Poshan Abhiyan (RPA) is a scheme launched by the Ministry of Women & Child Development in order to bring nutrition to the centre-stage of National Development Agenda with a mission to address malnutrition in a targeted approach.
As the scheme is being implemented through a web-based application, the government is providing smartphones to each Anganwadi worker to monitor through application software.
Officials informed that WCD is waiting for the ministry to provide the specifications of the smartphone to be provided so that it can procure the same through GeM portal, the release said.
Pradhan Mantri Matri Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) is a maternity benefit programme implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. It is a conditional cash transfer scheme for pregnant and lactating women of 19 years of age or above for the first live birth.
A sum of Rs 5000 in three instalments (1000, 2000 and 2000) is transferred into the bank account of a woman for the first live birth.
However, officials informed that as the application is web-based, internet connectivity in rural areas is posing a major concern in its successful implementation.
The chief minister admitted the concerns and hindrances to successful implementation of the schemes, specifically due to the ongoing pandemic.
He, however, urged the implementing officials to overcome all hindrances and achieve the proposed target in time bound manner. He also suggested dovetailing similar schemes of other departments to reach a larger audience and benefit the people, especially the poor.
"All these schemes are women and child centric. Therefore, we have to overcome all difficulties and reach out to them and provide them with the benefits," the chief minister said.
Khandu assured he would take up all state-specific issues in implementing the schemes with the concerned ministries.
Minister for WCD and SJETA Alo Libang was also present along with Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar and other officials, the release added.
