Welfare Approach

• First Five year plan (1951-56): The concept of women’s development in Board (CSWB), set up in 1953, undertook a no. of welfare measures through the voluntary sector.
• 2^nd Five Year Plan (1956-61): In this plan women were organised into Mahila Mandals to act as focal points at the grass-root levels for the welfare of women.
• 3^rd, 4^th & other interim plans (1961-74):
• These plans accorded high priority to education of women
• Measures to improve material & child health service, supplementary feeding for children & nursing expectant mothers were also introduced.
• National policy on Education (NPE) 1966,

5^th Plan (1974-78) ( from Welfare to Development )

• In this plan, there was a shift in the approach for women’s development from ‘welfare’ to ‘development’. The new approach aimed at an integration of welfare with developmental services.
• In National plan of action for women (NPA): adopted in 1976 became a guiding document for the development of women till 1988 when a National perspective plan for women was formulated.

6^th five year plan (1980-85)

• This plan was a landmark in the history of women’s development as it received recognition as one of the developmental sectors & was included in the 6^th plan document as a separate chapter for the first time in the history of developmental planning.
• This plan adopted a multi-disciplinary approach with a three-pronged thrust on health, education & employment.
• National Health Policy (NHP), 1983

7^th plan (1985-90)

• to identify promote the ‘beneficiary-oriented programmes’ for women in different development sectors which extend direct benefits to women.
• In National Perspective plan for Women (1988-2000): drafted by a core-group of experts is more of less a long term policy document advocating a holistic approach fro the development of women.
• Shram-Shakti: the report of the National Commission on self-employed women & women in the informal sector (1988) examines the entire gamut of issue facing women in the unorganized sector & makes a no. of recommendations relating to employment, occupational hazards, legislating protection, training & skill development, marketing  & credit for women in the informal sector.
• The National Expert Committee on Women Prisoners (1986): examined the condition of women prisoners in the criminal correctional justice system & made a series of recommendations relating to necessary legislative reform, prison reforms & reforms of other custodial institutions & rehabilitation of prisoners so far as women prisoners are concerned.

8^th plan (1992-97) (From Development to Empowerment)

• Women must be enabled to function as equal partners & participants in the developmental process.
• This approach to the 8^th plan marks a further shift from ‘development’ to ‘empowerment’ of women.
• The National Nutritional Policy (NNP), 1993: articulates nutritional consideration in all important policy instruments of government & identifies short-term & long term measures necessary to improve the nutritional status of women, children & the country as a whole.
• The National Plan of Action for the Girl Child (NPA) 1991-2000 is an integrated multi-sectoral decadal plan of Action for ensuring survival, protection & development of children with a special gender sensitivity built of the girl child & adolescent girls.

9^th Plan ( 1997-2002)

• empowerment of women and people’s participation in planning and implementation of strategies.
• Introduced Women component Plan
• To enable women to participate outside the home, childcare services, hostels and affordable housing are essential.
• The Govt adopted Bhagya Shree Bal Kalyan Policy (Oct. 19, 1998) to uplift the girls conditions and Rajrajeswari
• Mahila Kalyan Yoja
• Ensuring easy and equal access to education for women and girls through special action Plan of 1998
• Elimination of gender bias in all educational programmes (Oct. 19, 1998)
• to Provide insurance protection to women.
• Adoption of “National Policy for Empowerment of Women”. (2001)
• Government of India has declared the year 2001 as Women's Empowerment Year for creating a nation wide awareness about theupliftment and empowerment of women.

10^th plan(2002-2007)

• The Women’s Component Plan (WCP) involved efforts to ensure that not less than 30 percent of funds/benefits were earmarked for women under the various schemes of the women-related ministries/departments.
• Schemes adopted were
• Swayamsidha (organizes women into Self-Help Groups (SHGs) for income generation activities) ,
• Swashakti, Support for Training and Employment Programme (STEP) (1987)
• Training cum Centres for Women (Swawlamban previously known as NORAD’s women economic Programme) (1982-85).
• Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) , Swadhar or scheme for women in Different Circumstances (2001-02) etc.

11^th plan (2007-2012)

• to enable the creation of an environment for women that is safe and free from violence.
• Setting up a Gender Budgeting Cell,
• prevention of training Manuals for Gender Budgeting & capacity Building Workshop.
• Making employment and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act ( NREGA) gender responsive

12^th plan (2012-2017)

• Twelfth Five Year Plan entitled as ‘Faster, Sustainable and More Inclusive Growth’.
• In framing policies/schemes for the Twelfth Five Year Plan, the special needs of women must be taken due care of.
• The focus of the Twelfth Five Year Plan is on the health, education, urbanization and governance.
• In additional to women-specific and women-related policies enunciated in various plan documents, the government has also been creating an enabling policy environment in which women’sconcern can be reflected articulated & redressed by the government, the voluntary agencies & the corporate sector. As part of this effort, many policy instruments have been brought forth, over the years, leading to Action plans & programmes in several spheres.