KOZHIKODE: Thantedam Gender Fest 2012, the 10 day-long festival organised by the Social Welfare Department to provide a platform for the convergence of various activities for women, kicked off at the Swapna Nagari here on Thursday. Bihar Minister for Social Welfare Parveen Amanulla inaugurated the fest.Women empowerment is essential for the strengthening of family, society and the country, said Parveen Amanulla, while delivering the inaugural address. She said that the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar implemented various projects aimed at the empowerment of women and social welfare. These schemes enabled the government to achieve an unprecedented and historic people’s mandate one year back.“Nitish’s regime ensures that every woman in the state lives without any fear and obstacle in study and work,” said Parveen. “We implemented 50 per cent reservation for women in local bodies, just like in Kerala. In recognition of our efforts to change the face of Bihar in social welfare and development, the Government of India has bestowed us with the National Literacy Awards,” she added.“The Mukhyamantri Kanya Suraksha Yojana, an ambitious project launched by the government to ensure the rightful place of pride in the society for a girl child and her safety and security, has been a great success. Under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), we are running 80,211 anganwadi centres through 544 Child Development Projects across the state, for providing free education, nutrition and immunisation for women and children. The project gained success without any complaints of corruption and irregularities, said Parveen.The Mukhya Mantri Nari Shakti Yojana, a comprehensive scheme with provisions for diverse and innovative schemes was implemented by the government focusing on social, economic and cultural empowerment of women. So far, 39,000 Self Help Groups have been set up under this scheme, she added. Though the women are coming forward with their views, unfortunately their participation is lower than expected and we have to raise the participation level, she added.M K Raghavan MP was the chief guest. Thantedam Gender Fest general convener Noorbeena Rasheed presented the theme of the fest. District Collector P B Salim, brand ambassador Jyothirmayi and Social Welfare Department Director M S Jaya spoke. Actor Bhavana was the chief guest at the cultural programme.
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