Assams.info Logo

Nai Roshni – Scheme for Leadership Development of Minority Women

Nai Roshni is a Government of India scheme for development of leadership among minority women in India. Started in 2012, Nai Roshni aims to empower and infuse confidence among women belonging to minority community, particularly Muslim women, by providing knowledge, tools and techniques for interacting with various Government systems, banks and other institutions. The scheme is implemented by the Ministry of Minority Affairs through selected NGOs, civil societies, trust etc.

Background

Women empowerment is not only essential for equity in society, but also critical for fighting poverty and strengthening economic growth of a country. In India, a girl child suffers from discrimination even before birth. Most women in the rural areas are sidelined in decision making and allocation of household resources such as food, education and health care. They are also cut off from full involvement in the community. So the status of women in India, particularly those from rural areas and disadvantaged sections of the society, is still unfavourable.

In 2005, the report of a High Level Committee on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community of India (Sachar committee Report) had highlighted the disadvantaged position of Muslim women in rural areas. The Prime Minister’s 15 Point Programme focused on the educational needs and social development of Muslim women. In January, 2010, Central Government launched Nai Roshni scheme. But it’s implementation started only in 2012, when K Rehman Khan took over as Minister of Minority Affairs. Later in 2014, new government re-launched Nai Roshni as the ‘Scheme for Leadership Development of Minority Women’. The scheme now provides one week training programmes on leadership development, which is followed by hand-holding for one year. The scheme covers the whole country with special focus on areas having good amount of minority population. Current goal is to train 2 lakh minority women during the 12th Five Year Plan Period (2012-17).  In 2015-16, an Online Application Management System (OAMS) was launched to bring in transparency, simplified online application procedure and also to curtail delays and online issue of sanctions.

Objective

  1. Empower and instill confidence among minority women, including their neighbours from other communities living in the same village or locality, by providing knowledge, tools and techniques for interacting with Government systems, banks and other institutions at all levels.
  2. Empowerment of women from the minority communities and encouraging them to move out of the confines of their home and community and assume leadership roles and assert their rights, collectively or individually, in accessing services, facilities, skills, and opportunities besides claiming their share of development benefits of the Government for improving their lives and living conditions.

Project Implementation:

The Nai Roshni scheme is implemented by the Ministry of Minority Affairs through training organizations, which are selected from the following categories:

  • Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
  • Public Trust registered under any law for the time being in force.
  • Private limited non-profit company registered under Section 25 of the Indian Companies Act, 1956.
  • Universities or institutions of higher learning recognized by University Grants Commission (UGC).
  • Training institutes of Central and State Government/union territories, including Panchayati Raj Training institutes.
  • Registered Cooperative Societies of Women or Self Help Groups.

Activities under Nai Roshni:

  • Selection of areas: Villages or urban localities with good amount of minority population are selected.
  • Identification of trainees: The training organization need to motivate, identify and select women trainees.
  • Eligibility of Trainees: The scheme targets women belonging to all minorities. Women from non-minority communities are also allowed, but their number is capped at 25%. Age must be between 18 to 65 years.
  • Aadhaar or UID number: The training organizations assist the trainees in obtaining their Aadhaar Number.
  • Leadership Development Training: The training covers issues like leadership of women, educational programmes, health and hygiene, life skills, Swachch Bharat, financial literacy, legal rights of women, digital literacy and advocacy for social and behavioural change. Two types of leadership development trainings: Non-residential and Residential.
    • Non-residential Training: In one batch, 25 women are selected from a village/locality. At least 10% of the batch should have passed Class X or its equivalent (may be relaxed to Class V or its equivalent ). Training is conducted in the village/locality and duration the is 6 days.
    • Residential Training: In a batch of 25 women, maximum 5 women are allowed from same locality. Candidates must have at least Class XII certificate or its equivalent (may be relaxed to class X or equivalent).
  • Workshop: Training organizations organizes workshop to sensitize Government functionaries, bankers, Panchayati Raj functionaries etc.
  • Nurturing and Hand-holding: After the training, the women are expected to become community-based leaders or trainers in the locality. So, nurturing and hand holding is done for a period upto one year. Trainers visits the locality at least once a month and holds meetings with the empowered women. They also encourage formation of self help groups  or mahila mandals/mahila sabhas among the empowered women.

Project Outlay:

The estimated fund requirement for the for entire scheme, during the 12th Five Year Plan period is Rs. 75 Crore.

References:

Ministry of Minority Affairs, Govt of India

Note: The information contained in this article is intended to be a helpful resource for your reference and it should not be relied upon for complicity.

Assams.Info - The Assam Information Portal

Add Your Comment

*

*

(* means required)