Minister of State
Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India. Appointed 11 June 2024, serving with the Cabinet Minister, Smt. Annpurna Devi.
Source — Ministry of Women and Child Development institutions
The mandate of the Ministry
The Ministry of Women and Child Development is the nodal agency of the Government of India for the welfare, development and protection of women and children. For better implementation and monitoring, its schemes are organised into three umbrella missions.
Saksham Anganwadi & POSHAN 2.0
Nutrition and early childhood care. Reorganises Anganwadi Services, POSHAN Abhiyaan and the Scheme for Adolescent Girls into nutrition support, early childhood care and education for ages three to six, and Anganwadi infrastructure.
Mission Shakti
Safety, protection and empowerment of women. Two sub-verticals: Sambal — One Stop Centres, Women Helpline 181, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Nari Adalat; and Samarthya — PMMVY, Shakti Sadan, Sakhi Niwas, Palna, NHEW.
Mission Vatsalya
Protection, care and welfare of children in difficult circumstances. Subsumes the Integrated Child Protection Scheme, supporting Child Care Institutions, statutory bodies and context-based solutions for children in need of care.
States and Union Territories
Criteria, rules and standard operating procedures for these schemes are circulated to all States and Union Territories, which implement them. Much ministerial work is therefore coordination with State governments.
What a Minister of State does
A Minister of State is a member of the Union Council of Ministers ranking below a Cabinet Minister. Where a Cabinet Minister heads a ministry, a Minister of State assists in discharging its responsibilities.
In practice, and as evidenced by the ministerial activity published by the Press Information Bureau, the work recorded for this office includes:
- Answering for the Ministry in Parliament, and representing the Government in debates.
- Reviewing scheme implementation with State governments and departmental officials.
- Field inspection of service delivery points — Anganwadi Centres, One Stop Centres, Child Care Institutions.
- Representing India at international forums on social development and the status of women.
- Inter-ministerial coordination where the Ministry’s work intersects with health, education, rural development and home affairs.
- Oversight of the Ministry’s institutions, including the Savitribai Phule National Institute of Women and Child Development.
Recorded by the Press Information Bureau
State review — Arunachal Pradesh
Official visit to review Mission Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0, Mission Vatsalya and the Sambal component of Mission Shakti with the State department, addressing Anganwadi infrastructure and vacancies in Child Welfare Committees and Juvenile Justice Boards.
United Nations — CSoCD 63
Led the Indian delegation to the 63rd session of the Commission for Social Development in New York, presenting India’s statement at the Ministerial Forum on the priority theme “Strengthening Solidarity and Social Cohesion” on 11 February 2025.
Field inspection — Indore
Visited the Anganwadi Centre at Sethi Nagar, Indore, reviewing service delivery and interacting with Anganwadi workers and beneficiaries on nutrition, health and early education interventions.
District review — Jiribam, Manipur
Inspection across Jiribam and Borobekra sub-divisions covering a One Stop Centre, two Child Care Institutions, an Anganwadi Centre, a district hospital, a primary school and water and housing projects.
State tour — Namchi, Sikkim
Second day of a three-day tour of Sikkim, including the National Institute of Technology, a tea estate and factory, and inspection of a food godown at Namthang reviewing storage and distribution.
Institutional review — Indore
Present at a review of the Savitribai Phule National Institute of Women and Child Development, Western Regional Centre, Indore, chaired by the Union Minister, covering training programmes, research and the Child Guidance Centre.
The Ministry’s responsibilities are institutional and continuous. Mission Shakti, Mission Vatsalya and Saksham Anganwadi & POSHAN 2.0 were established before this appointment, are implemented by States and Union Territories, and are not the creation or achievement of any individual Minister.
Individually documented activity is the narrower set of visits, reviews, statements and representations recorded against Smt. Savitri Thakur by name in official releases. Only these are attributed to her on this site, and each carries its date and source.
No claim is made anywhere on this site that programmes of the Government of India were created by, or are the personal achievement of, Smt. Savitri Thakur.