About the Scheme

• Department of Women Development and Social Welfare, Government of West Bengal (DWD&SW) has designed the Kanyashree Prakalpa - a conditional cash transfer scheme with the aim of improving the status and well being of the girl child in West Bengal by incentivizing schooling of all teenage girls and delaying their marriages until the age of 18, the legal age of marriage. Kanyashree Prakalpa is a West Bengal Government sponsored scheme which will be implemented henceforth in all districts of the State.

Components of the Scheme
The scheme has two components:

• Annual Scholarship of Rs. 500/-(Rupees Five hundred only)
• One time Grant of Rs. 25,000/-(Rupees Twenty-five thousand only)
• The Annual Scholarship is for unmarried girls aged 13-18 years enrolled in classes VIII-XII in government recognized regular or equivalent open school or equivalent vocational/technical training course.
• The One-time Grant is for girls turned 18 at the time of application, enrolled in government recognized regular or open school/college or pursuing vocational/technical training or sports activity or is an inmate of Home registered under J.J. Act 2000
• Both the benefits under the scheme will be granted to girls who belong to families with annual family income not more than Rs. 1, 20,000/- (Rupees One Lakh and twenty thousand only. The bar for family is not applicable if the girl has lost both parents, is physically challenged (40% disability) or is inmate of J.J. Home.
• Given that child marriage has a grossly negative impact on the lives of children, adolescents and young women, this scheme is expected to bring about improved outcomes in terms of their educational status, health (especially facilitate the prevention of infant and maternal mortality) and contribute towards the empowerment of the girls in the State, and bring immeasurable benefits for the larger society as a whole.

Target Beneficiary

• All girl children within the age of 13 to 19 years from families with annual income up to Rs 120000/-
• Girls regularly attending institutions for education or vocational/sports training
• Girls of Child Care Institutes registered under J.J. Act within the age of 18-19 years
• For the one-time grant, girls who are completing 18 years on or after 1st April 2013
• Approximately 18 Lakhs girl students for annual scholarship each year
• Approximately 3.5 Lakhs girls for one time grant each year

UN Public Service Award:

• The UN Public Service Awards are given by the world body to institutions from across the world for their innovation and excellence in providing public services. It highlights the pivotal role of public services in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• The UN Public Service Day is celebrated every year to recognise public service innovations and excellence that have led to more effective and inclusive public service delivery contributing to the achievement of the SDGs in countries worldwide.
• India is among the first place winners of the public service awards along with Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Colombia, Ecuador, Mongolia and the UK. The second place winners are projects from Botswana, Colombia, France, Thailand.
• The winner from Argentina is an initiative that provided quality early childhood education to neighbourhoods in extreme needs.
• An initiative in Australia was recognised that promotes transparency and inclusiveness in use of public fund and resources while in Thailand, a project was recognised for providing quality care to elders.