Main Article Content
Abstract
Women empowerment promotes womens’ sense of self-worth, their ability to determine their own choices and their right to influence social change for themselves and others. The five pillars of women empowerment are education, health, security, finance and emotion. The present study attempts to find out the plausible path to achieve the goal of women empowerment through utilizing Kanyashree one-time grant. Four representative blocks such as Bhangar-I, Budgebudge-II, Canning-II and Gosaba of South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal have been selected for this study. The perception of girl students of age group of not less than 18 years, on women empowerment, has been studied in respect of selected contributory variables. The outcomes of these correlations are not identical in all four blocks of the district. The present study also attempts to find out the administrative lacunae and prescribes the plausible solution through establishing harmonious relations among different field-level administrative agencies such as three-tier panchayat administration, school/college administration, rural public library administration, voluntary organisations, parental associations, Kanyashree clubs etc. for smooth implementation and monitoring of the Kanyashree Prakalpa. The study also found a dichromatic scenario existing in a block where on one side girls are getting skilled due to the efforts undertaken by block level administration and on the other hand, many other girls are getting married before 18 years of age, without completing their school education.