Empowerment of adolescent Girls: Perspective of Kanyashree Prakalpa

It is not possible for a bird to fly on one wing. So for the development of a nation women should be educated with men. In Atharva Veda it is mentioned that Just as boys acquire sound knowledge and education by the practice of Brahmacharya, so should girls. So thoughts of girls empowerment is coming from ancient age. Several steps were taken with the change of era. As a result sati system was abolished, the scope of formal education system of girls has expanded but till now child marriage, sexual abuse of minor girls, child labour, trafficking, other forms of exploitation are existing in India. Present scenario of West Bengal is a matter of importance regarding the prevalence of child marriage. Proper education is needed for eradicating such type of evil practices in our society. After independence several measures are taken for proper education of girl child. In 2013, government of West Bengal launched a conditional cash transfer scheme, Kanyashree Prakalpa for incentivizing adolescent girls to complete secondary and higher secondary education, or equivalent in technical or vocational streams and to disincentivising marriage till at least the age of 18, the legal age of marriage. Increased rate of sanctioned Kanyashree application from 2013-2014 session to till date indicates the growth of enrolment of girls in formal education field. On the other hand Kanyashree girls campaign the evil effect of child marriage and also have interrupted child marriage forcefully with the help of police, BDO, NGO and others. Impact of this scheme enhances the attitude towards education and self power, self esteem of adolescent girl child which have a positive influence for the development our society. This scheme protects & empowers all adolescent girls by creating an enable environment for their participation and meaningful contribution to the society. It has immense potential to uplift the state by empowering girl child to an inclusive growth in the long run with sustainable development. If girls are allowed to be girls, then everybody wins. So Kanyashree Prakalpa is not just a social welfare scheme, it is future