About the scheme

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing the Swadhar Greh Scheme which targets the women victims of difficult circumstances who are in need of institutional support for rehabilitation so that they could lead their life with dignity. 
• Swadhar Greh targets the following categories of women in difficult circumstances without economic and social support:
  • Deserted women;
  • Women rendered homeless due to natural calamities;
  • Women ex-prisoners;
  • Trafficked women/girls rescued or runaway from brothels;
  • HIV/AIDS affected women;
  • Women victims of domestic violence, family tension or discord driven out from their homes and facing marital litigations;
  • Women victims of terrorist violence 

Objectives 

• Under the Scheme, Swadhar Greh will be set up in every district. Swadhar Greh provides temporary residential accommodation with the following objectives:     
  • To cater to the primary need of shelter, food, clothing, medical treatment and care of the women in distress and who are without any social and economic support.
  • To enable them to regain their emotional strength that gets hampered due to their encounter with unfortunate circumstances.
  • To provide them with legal aid and guidance to enable them to take steps for their readjustment in family/society.
  • To rehabilitate them economically and emotionally.
  • To act as a support system that understands and meets various requirements of women in distress.
  • To enable them to start their life afresh with dignity and conviction.
• For big cities and other districts having more than 40 lakh population or those districts where there is a need for additional support to the women, more than one Swadhar Greh could be established.
• The Swadhar Greh Scheme initially introduced as a central sector scheme has been revised in 2016 as a sub-scheme of the Centrally Sponsored Umbrella Scheme “Protection and Empowerment of Women”.
• Funds are released through the States, with a cost sharing ratio of 60:40 between the Centre and the States excepting for the North Eastern and Himalayan States where it shall be 90:10 and for UTs it is 100%.

Why in the news? 

• Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani provided details about the Swadhar Greh Scheme in the Lok Sabha.

Reference:

1. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1777735