A STUDY ON THE AWARENESS LEVEL AMONG SELF HELP GROUP WOMEN ON THE SCHEMES OF ICDS CENTRES IN TRIPLICANE AREA

A INTRODUCTION It is an established fact that India is a welfare state. As a welfare state India has always endeavored to provide basic services to all its citizens and particularly to the weaker sections of the society. According to CM Mahajan, In pursuit of the ideals of the welfare State, progress, prosperity and protection the modern democratic state provides numerous welfare services to its citizens, what broadly is called social welfare. Mohinder Singh, in his book Social Policy and Social Administration in India states welfare as the Well being and improvement of the living standards of the people in general and particularly the under-privileged sections of the society The directive principles of the state clearly state that the Government should work for the welfare of the people. According to Hon'ble Justice N.K.jain, Article 36 to 51 in Part IV of the Constitution of India contains the Directive Principles of State Policy. The aim of these Directive Principles is establishment of a Welfare State which is envisaged in the preamble to the Constitution. If the U.N. Convention of Right to Development is an inalienable Human Right, the Directive Principles which also aim at development of the State, thereby stand elevated to the level of Human Rights. The Supreme Court in Unnikrishnans case (AIR 1993 SC 2178) went to the extent of observing that the Directive Principles constitute Conscience of the Constitution. In essence, the Government has to 1. Secure adequate means of livelihood to all its citizens. 2. Raise the standard of living of the people. 3. Improve Public Health. 4. Provide Free and Compulsory Education for Children. 5. Prevent concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. 6. Provide free legal aid to the poor. 7. Preserve the countrys natural resources.

8. Promote international peace and security. Thus it can be said that the spirit of welfare has been shaping Indias social policy since independence. India has evolved the five plans and sectoral policies in order to address all the development issues. Many of the policies and programs are being implemented for promotion of holistic socio economic development of the people. B.M.Chande in his book, The Police in India describes the term weaker section explicitly. He states that The term weaker sections of the people has been used in Article 46 of the

constitution of India in one of the Directive principles of State Policy to promote with special care the education and economic interests of the weaker sections. The scheduled tribes have been particularly named, and the State is directed to protect them from injustice and exploitation. The intention of the constitution makers is obvious that many other sections of society who are vulnerable socially, educationally and economically, would be covered by the term weaker sections of the people. The constitution itself provides for special care and attention to the problems of women and children as well as the minorities. In addition the physically and mentally handicapped and the economically disadvantaged sections among the rural folk as also the slum dwellers in towns will equally qualify to be covered under the term weaker sections of the society to a greater or lesser degree. The constitution in the preamble envisages justice, economic and political, special care and attention to these weaker sections in the society. This explanation of the term weaker sections clearly describes certain groups as more vulnerable than others and hence special and intensive policies for development of these groups are designed and implemented. Children, especially in the age group 0-6 and women are the most vulnerable among slum dwellers. The status of children and women from the lower socio-economic condition is very poor and thus is a great cause for concern. The article, Estimates of malnourished, anemic and underweight children in India published in India Current Affairs, a leading source of online information on India, goes on to state that As per the latest National Family Health Survey,

2005-06 (NFHS-3), 42.5% children under 5 years have been reported to be underweight in India. The problem of malnutrition is multidimensional and inter-generational in nature, the determinants of which include household food insecurity, illiteracy and lack of awareness

especially in women, access to health services, availability of safe drinking water, sanitation and environmental conditions and purchasing power etc. Besides early age at marriage of girls, teenage pregnancies resulting in low birth weight of the newborns, poor breastfeeding practices, poor complementary feeding practices, ignorance about nutritional needs of infants and young children and repeated infections further aggravate the malnutrition amongst children. Thus it can be inferred that among the weaker sections, children and women from the lower socio economic group are extremely vulnerable and need special policies and programs that would ameliorate the living conditions and ensure development. ICDS as a way and means to provide assistance to women and children: