<span style="color: #222222;">Minister of State for Women and Child Development Debasree Chaudhuri has said that her Ministry is trying its best to support and strengthen the bedrock of the society, women and children during the COVID-19 crisis.<br />''<br />''In an article in a Hindi daily, Ms Chaudhuri said, everyone is vulnerable to this virus and the vulnerability of women, children and elderly is of even higher level.<br />''<br />''She wrote about the steps taken by her Ministry during these unprecedented times to help out the women and children.<br />''<br />''She wrote that, no doubt, women have always been multi-taskers, managing both home and workplace well.<br />''<br />''But, with the new normal of Work From Home, care responsibilities of these nation-builders have increased manifold with disproportionate amount of burden.<br />''<br />''She said, if cases of domestic violence and undesired pregnancy increase during this lock down period, then the system is ready to deal with it swiftly and effectively.<br />''<br />''Ms Choudhuri informed that 681 One Stop Centres, Women Helpline 181 in 32 States and UTs, Emergency Response Support System-112 are functional and providing a range of integrated services of Police facilitation, medical and legal aid, psycho-social counseling and temporary shelter.<br />''<br />''She wrote that during the lock down, all this has assisted over 36 thousand women so far. She said, Ujjawala, Swadhar Homes, Child Care Institutions have been running continuously with basic materials to fight Covid like soap, sanitisers and masks.<br />''<br />''The Minister said, women menstrual hygiene needs to be emphasized and around 6318 Jan Aushadhi Kendras are providing 40 women-centric products including subsidized Suvidha sanitary napkins at affordable price of one rupees per pad to women across the country. One Stop Centres are coordinating with them for this.<br />''<br />''The Minister wrote that Take Home Ration has been distributed at the doorsteps of pregnant women and children by Anganwadi Workers and the Anganwadi Helpers who are the backbone of Ministry of Women and Child Development.<br />''<br />''She said, undettered by the risk involved, they have been playing a crucial role in containing the spread of COVID-19. The Minister saluted all the COVID-warriors.</span><br />