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In the state of West Bengal, there have been several issues in the form of socio-economic disparity. As a result, the government of West Bengal has developed a number of major welfare schemes aimed at empowering women from all socio-economic backgrounds. The present study attempts to assess and evaluate the impact of some prime welfare schemes on the empowerment of women by highlighting on their awareness and utilisation by the women population in Manteswar Block of Purba Barddhaman district of West Bengal. This study was conducted in Manteswar CD block by taking 250 women as sampling unit. Stratified random sampling method was used whereby the villages were chosen on the basis of their caste composition so that women from all caste groups are adequately represented. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for collecting the data. The data was analysed using Microsoft Excel software. To explore the economic, social, household, political and psychological dimensions of women empowerment along with overall women empowerment, the women empowerment index (WEI) was constructed to measure the level of overall women empowerment based on the selected indicators. The study found out that the welfare schemes for the women are more or less effective and have provided a scope for development of women in this area. The awareness and utilisation of the welfare schemes are also on the higher side in this area and had a positive influence on women empowerment index.
Samanta et al. (Sun,) studied this question.