The State Administrative Council (SAC) which met here under chairmanship of Governor Satya Pal Malik accorded sanction to creation of one post of Director General Women & Child Development in the Social Welfare Department.
Presently, the social welfare schemes in J&K are lookedafter by two Directorates – Directorates of Social Welfare Kashmir and Jammu.
Further, the issues related to women and child developmentare being addressed through various verticals of Social Welfare Developmentincluding Mission Directorates of ICDS and ICPS, Project Directorate of POSHAN Abhiyaan, Mission Directorate of State Resource Centrefor Women, J&K State Council for Rehabilitation of Widows, Orphans,Handicapped and Old Persons (Victims of Militancy), J&K State Women’sDevelopment Corporation and J&K State Commission for Women.
The High Court of J&K in the PIL (No. 09/2013 titledCourt on its own Motion Vs State of J&K and Others) had asked the StateGovernment to consider setting up of a separate Department of Women & ChildDevelopment like in other states to plan and implement programs for children.
Pursuant to the directions of the Court, the Social WelfareDepartment decided to propose a separate Directorate of Women and ChildDevelopment to be headed by the Director General, Women and Child Development.
The post shall be created in a scale equivalent to the supertime scale of J&K administrative service and manned either by an officer ofIndian Administrative Service (IAS) or J&K Administrative Service (JKAS) orCommon Pool Cadre.
Further, Mission Directorate of ICDS will continue tofunction as Project Director, POSHAN Abhiyaan and Mission Director ICPS, bothwill report to Director General, Women and Child Development.
The supporting staff of the Directorate of Women and ChildDevelopment will be made through internal adjustment/deployment.
The creation of a dedicated Department of Women & ChildDevelopment will help in evolving plans, policies, strategies and approachesfor achieving desired goals with focus on percolation of benefits to women andchildren, mobilization of resources and convergence of common programs foruplift and development of women and children.
This will contribute towards robust monitoring oflaws/schemes/programs relating to women and children in the state.