• Dr. Daneshwari Sambhakar, Deputy Director
Chhattisgarh is celebrating the year 2026 as the “Year of Women’s Pride,” a new direction is being given to women’s dignity, self-respect, and economic empowerment. Under Vishnu Dev Sai’s leadership, state government schemes are now yielding effective results on the ground, clearly reflected in the statistics.
Chief Minister Shri Vishnu Dev Sai said that Mahatari Gaurav Varsh is a comprehensive campaign to empower and empower women. He informed that the state government has given top priority to the nutrition and health of women and children in the budget and has allocated Rs 800 crore for Anganwadi operations, Rs 650 crore for supplementary nutrition, and Rs 235 crore for malnutrition eradication and nutrition campaign, which is an important investment towards making the coming generation healthy and empowered.
Women and Child Development Minister Smt. Laxmi Rajwade said that the Mahatari Vandan Yojana has proved to be a milestone in the economic empowerment of women in the state. Launched on March 10, 2024, the scheme provides approximately 7 million women with monthly assistance of 1,000 rupees. So far, more than 16,881 crore rupees have been transferred directly to beneficiaries’ accounts through 26 installments, while the budget provision of 8,200 crore rupees for this scheme demonstrates the state government’s commitment.
He said that to secure the future of daughters, under the proposed Rani Durgavati Yojana, an assistance of Rs 1 lakh 50 thousand will be given on completion of 18 years of age, for which a provision of Rs 15 crore has been made.
Infrastructure for women is also expanding rapidly in the state. A provision of ₹75 crore has been made for the construction of Mahatari Sadans, under which 368 Sadans have been approved so far, and construction of 137 has been completed. Additionally, ₹42 crore has been earmarked for the construction of 500 new Anganwadi centers, which will further strengthen access to services in rural and urban areas.
In the field of maternity protection, more than 3 lakh 73 thousand registrations have been registered under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana and an amount of more than 235 crore rupees has been paid. While more than 1 lakh 75 thousand registrations were made in the year 2023-24, this number increased to more than 2 lakh 19 thousand in 2024-25. In the year 2025-26, more than 2 lakh 4 thousand registrations have been done till February, which is more than 93 percent of the target set.
The state has also achieved notable success in the Nutrition Campaign. During Nutrition Month 2024, the state ranked first in performance per center and third in total activities. Innovations like the Invitation Feast organized over 9,700 programs, benefiting over 183,000 children.
Minister Laxmi Rajwade said that to make women self-reliant, self-help groups are being linked with projects like ready-to-eat food, and business opportunities are being provided to them through the Lakhpati Didi Yojana. Approximately 3.8 million women are benefiting from the Ujjwala Yojana, providing them with access to clean fuel. The number of Sakhi One Stop Centers has been increased from 27 to 34, where more than 8,900 of the more than 14,300 cases have been resolved.
It’s clear that “Mahatma Gaurav Varsh” isn’t just a symbolic initiative, but a campaign that delivers concrete results. Under the leadership of Vishnu Dev Sai and Laxmi Rajwade, women in Chhattisgarh are now emerging as the driving force behind development and giving the state a new direction.