Scheme to empower women

hajipur: a sum of rs 14 crore has been spent in the last eight years for the maintenance of buildings of 16 remand homes, situated in different districts of bihar, by the social welfare department of the state while the central government sanctioned only rs 1 crore instead of its share of rs 7 crore. giving this information to the times of india, the director of social welfare department, gautam goswami, said that half of the amount required for the remand homes is sanctioned by the central government to the state government.hence, a move has been initiated to seek the release of rs 6 crore from the central government, said goswami. goswami said that swayam-sidha women''s project, hitherto known as indira mahila project, has been started in 61 blocks of bihar, including some in the vaishali district. "under this project, women are sought to be empowered by the formation of self-help groups to spread a culture of mico-credit and savings," he said. to activate the project, a state-level monitoring committee has been formed and rs 1.23 crore will be released soon by the central government. besides, it has been decided to build state referral centres in six districts -- namely chapra, darbhanga, purnia, bhagalpur, banka and muzaffarpur -- to execute various rehabilitation schemes for disabled persons, said goswami, adding rs 60 lakh would be given for the construction of state referral centre to each of the six districts.