Social Welfare

Constituted as an Independent Directorate in 1974, deals with Human Resource and Development; falls under three Ministry of Government of India –Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Ministry of Minority Affairs.

Ministry of Women and Child Development :

• Integrated Child Development Services
• Juvenile Justice Act.

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment :

• Disability Sector
• Social Defence
• Aged and Infirm.

Ministry of Tribal Affairs :

• Grant in aid to NGOs working for the welfare of Scheduled Tribes
• Vocational Training in Tribal Areas.

Ministry of Minority Affairs :

• Implementation of Multi Sectoral Development Programme (MSDP) for minorities in the minority concentrated District of West and South West Garo Hills.
• The Trust Areas of the Department are diverse ranging from Child Development to Women’s Empowerment, Nutrition, Persons with Disabilities, Juvenile Delinquents, issue of violence against women and children, aged and infirm and networking withj NGOs and Government allied Departments. .

Scheme of Integrated Child Development Services functions through Anganwadi Workers and Anganwadi Helpers in the grass-root level or rural areas who are supervised by Mukhyasevikas or Lady Supervisors and monitored by Child Development Project Officer of the ICDS Project.

Child Welfare : Centrally Sponsored Schemes– Integrated Child Development Services.

           Launched in 1975 in 33 Blocks of the Country, ICDS is a unique early childhood development programme aimed at addressing the health, nutrition and development needs of young children, pregnant and nursing mothers. In Meghalaya, the first project was launched on an experimental basis at Songsak C&RD Block, East Garo Hills District in the same year. Since then, the Department has been expanding to 39 Community and Rural Development Blocks and two Urban ICDS Projects at Shillong and at Tura through a network of more than 5896 Anganwadi Centres. ICDS was designed to promote holistic development of children under 6 years through the strengthened capacity of caregivers and communities with improved access to basic services at community level.

        The scheme has been re-launched in Mission Mode during 2012 as the restructured and strengthened ICDS Programme with the vision to ensure holistic physical, psychological, cognitive and emotional development of young children under 6 years of age in a nurturing, protective, child – friendly and gender sensitive family and community.

The components and core package of services under ICDS are :

         Early Childhood Care, Education and Development (ECCED). Non-Formal Pre- School Education and Supplementary Nutrition.

         Care and Nutrition Counselling. Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) promotion and counselling, Maternal care and counselling, Care, Nutrition, Health and Hygiene Education, Community –based care and management of under-weight children.

         Health Services : Immunization and Micro-Nutrient supplementation, Health Check-up, Referral Services.

         Community Mobilization, Awareness, Advocacy and Information, Education and Communication (IEC), : IEC Campaigns, Drives, etc.

Supplementary Nutrition Programme

           Supplementary Nutrition Programme is one of the core components of ICDS Scheme. The main objective is to bridge the calorie gap between the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) and the Average Daily Intake (ADI) of children aged 6 months to 6 years and pregnant and lactating mothers.

The Supplementary Nutrition Programme has two components :

          Morning Snacks and hot cooked meals served daily at AWC to all children between 3 to 6 years attending Pre-School at                  25 days in a month.

        Take Home Ration (THR) in the form of Ready to Eat (RTE) energy dense food is given for children 6 months to 3 years and           pregnant and lactating mothers.

Chief Minister’s Social Assistance Scheme :

           This scheme is a state funded scheme. Under this scheme, beneficiaries are given directly a sum of Rs. 500/- per month which is directly transferred to their bank account by the Child Dev. Project Officer of the concerned ICDS Project.

• Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) :- To avail this benefit, one has to obtain Disability Certificate from a competent authority or Medical Board specially constituted to identify the PwD persons before issuing the certificate.
• Infirm Persons :- under this scheme, a physically weak and infirm person has to attain the age of 60 with a certificate issued by a competent authority pertaining to his / her age.
• Single Mothers :- To avail this benefit, a mother has to be a widow, or married wife having child, deserted by her husband, without any support from any source or below poverty line, which is to be supported by credible evidence or certificate issued by the Nokma / Lasker / Village Headman / Block Dev. Officer.