West Bengal's 'Kanyashri' scheme earns international recognition

KOLKATA: The ' Kanyashri' scheme launched by Mamata Banerjee government to provide incentives for the girl child has earned recognition from United Kingdom, West Bengal Minister for Women Development and Social Welfare Sashi Panja told the assembly today.

Replying after the debate on her departments' budgets, Panja said the scheme had been asked to be presented as a case study at the forthcoming Girl Summit in London on July 22.

The scheme envisaged that if a girl continued her studies up to the age of 18 years, a one-time grant of Rs 25,000 would be deposited in her bank account provided she was unmarried.

The government would also provide an annual scholarship of Rs 500 to girls between 13 and 18 years (class eight to class 12) to continue their studies, provided they were unmarried and their parents' annual income was below Rs 1.20 lakh, she said.

For better functioning of the homes where destitutes and under-privileged women and girls were given shelter, the government had installed CCTVs and the staff were being trained for monitoring of the panels.

Panja said her department had also drawn up a standard operating procedure for rescue, rehabilitation, repatriation and re-integration of trafficked girls from Bangladesh to West Bengal.