Central Kolkata Human Welfare Society - Kolkata

20b, Abdul Hamid Street, Esplanade, Abdul Hamid Street, Kolkata, West Bengal 700069 The Department of Women Development and Social Welfare has the following offices:  Directorate of Social Welfare, West Bengal Social Welfare Board, Office of the Controller for Vagrancy, Office of Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, West Bengal Commission for Women, West Bengal Women Development Undertaking and the Transgender Development Board. The Department's work has evolved along with the evolution of women's rights.  With a strong foundation laid by women specific laws, policies and schemes at the national and state level, the department is concentrating its energies on a critical demographic sector – adolescent girls. KanyashreePrakalpa, the state's flagship social protection scheme for adolescent girls was launched in 2013. The Scheme's objectives are to enhance the status of vulnerable girls between the ages of 13 and 19 through prevention of child marriage and promotion of education, financial inclusion and social inclusion, thereby ensuring that they complete the developmental tasks of adolescence in safety and wellbeing. KanyashreePrakalpais a model of good governance: its convergent operational platform, multi-layered monitoring mechanisms and end-to-end IT enablement (wbkanyashree.gov.in) promote citizen-centric services, efficient-service delivery, transparency and accountability. It has been nationally and internationally recognized as a good practice, and has received several prestigious awards. Although the central government's Swawalamban provides vocational training to socially marginalized women and transgender persons, at the Chief Minister's instance, the Department has designed and implements Swawalmban Special and MuktirAlo, which specifically supports those forced into commercial sex work and their children into alternative livelihoods. While the state's women form the major proportion of population served by the Department, the rights of certain smaller populations, are also the focus of the department. For homeless and destitute persons, the Directorate of Vagrancy runs 11 Vagrancy homes in various districts under the Bengal Vagrancy Act, and 45 shelters under the Shelter for Urban Homeless Scheme, a state sponsored scheme, in Kolkata, Howrah and Asansol Municipal areas. Apart from shelter and health services, inmates are provided vocational training so that they may return to living in society. Support and rehabilitation for drug addiction is provided though homes that are run by NGOs. Social security is extended through Old Age Pensions, Widow Pensions and Disability Pensions. Apart from pensions, senior citizens in need can avail of shelter at various government homes. Under the West Bengal Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Rules, 2008, runs tribunals that hear cases of senior citizens who face harassment and eviction by their families. A major step forward has been the establishment of The West Bengal Transgender Development Board which was constituted in July 2015with the objective of improving the status of the highly marginalized and vulnerable transgender who are lagging behind on human development indices, especially education and employment. A State Coordination Committee has been constituted with members of several departments so that the challenges faced by the community – education, security, medical access, rehabilitation and welfare can be expedited.  Mass awareness messages have already been broadcast over the radio, and the Commissioner of Kolkata Police have been requested to recruit transgender persons into the Civic Police Force.