Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Tuesday called upon women to be partners in Jharkhand’s progress while stressing that empowerment of women was the priority of his government.

“The government is determined to make women partners in the state’s development and women should come forward to reap benefits of the schemes. In Jharkhand, there is a need to bring women forward in many areas and the government wants to make them partners in changing the image of the state by making programmes suited to their needs,” Hemant said while speaking during the virtual inauguration of a vocational skill training centre under the World Bank-funded Tejaswini project in Dhanbad on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

Hemant also heaped praise on rural healthcare and anganwadi workers for their commendable work during the pandemic and in fighting women and child malnutrition.

In December, Jharkhand had launched SAAMAR (Strategic Action for Alleviation of Malnutrition and Anemia Reduction) campaign to tackle malnutrition in the state within 1,000 days. Under the campaign, annual surveys will be conducted to track the progress in Chatra, Latehar, Sahebganj, Simdega and West Singhbhum districts on a pilot basis. It aims at the convergence of departments such as rural development and food and civil supplies and engagement with school management committees and gram sabhas to make them aware of nutritional behaviour.

All women team of POSHAN Dal (anganwadi worker, Accredited Social Health Activists, and women self-help group members using app-based data collection tools such as tablets and Android phones have been teamed up to collect data for the identification of malnourished children and women suffering from anaemia.

The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) of 2019-21 has shown improvement in women and child nutrition in Jharkhand. For instance, while 62.6 per cent of pregnant women were anaemic in 2015-16, it came down to 56.8 per cent in 2019-21. Similarly, 45.3 per cent of children were stunted in 2015-16, but it improved to 39.6 per cent in 2019-21.

State minister for women, child development and social security Joba Manjhi also underscored the importance of women partnering the government mission in state development.

“There is a need to walk side by side with the man. Many schemes are being successfully implemented here. It is time to choose the plans according to the need and move forward. The Tejaswini project is being implemented in 17 districts (out of a total of 24 districts of Jharkhand). There are 10.89 lakh girls who are benefiting from the project,” Majhi said.

Hemant and Majhi jointly released the Setu Education Curriculum, which will be rolled out in the 17 districts of the state. Under this, girls aged between 14 and 20 years who have dropped out of school will be identified and connected with education between Class VIII and X.

The Tejaswini project was launched in July 2019 in 17 districts of the state in which young girls aged between 14 and 24 years were connected to Tejaswini clubs. These clubs are equipped with facilities to impart formal education and vocational training, provided by the Jharkhand Skill Development Mission Society. The government has tied up with the National Institute of Open Schooling to help female school dropouts complete their education till the matriculation level under the Tejaswini scheme.