Maharashtra expands Mission Vatsalya to cover widows and single women

The Maharashtra government has decided to expand the scope of its Mission Vatsalya scheme to provide benefits to all widows single and deserted women state Women and Child Development Minister Aditi Tatkare has said reported news agency PTIThe scheme was initially launched in 2021 during the COVID19 pandemic to support children who had lost both parents to the ailment as well as widowed womenAt the time committees under tehsildars were constituted at the taluka level to ensure such orphans and widows could access government aid and essential certificates including death and income certificates caste certificates widow pension ration cards housing support and other social security benefits reported PTITatkare on Friday said that the government will now organise camps and outreach programmes at the district level to ensure widows and single women receive the benefits of various state welfare schemes under the government at your doorstep initiativeThe expansion of Mission Vatsalya will provide social and economic security to women and bring relief to all single women in Maharashtra she said reported PTIMaharashtra expands mobile forensic lab fleet to 59 to speed up crime detectionMeanwhile in an attempt to strengthen scientific investigation into crimes and speed up detection the Maharashtra government has expanded its fleet of mobile forensic laboratories from 21 to 59 across the state an official said on Saturday reported PTIChief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated the countrys first set of 21 mobile forensic vans on January 27 making Maharashtra the pioneer state in the fieldWith the expansion mobile forensic units are now deployed in key urban centres and at divisional and district police officesIn Mumbai vans have been stationed at Chembur East region Bandra West Kandivali North Byculla Central and Nagpada South and one at the Railway CommissionerateSimilar facilities have been made available in Navi Mumbai Nagpur Thane Pune PimpriChinchwad Solapur Nashik Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Amravati and other districts taking the total count to 59 reported PTIAs per an official release issued on Friday these vehicles are equipped with advanced biochemical chemical biological physical and digital forensic tools that enable evidence collection directly from crime scenes reducing dependence on eyewitness accounts and preliminary testimonyThe Directorate of Forensic Science Laboratories DFSL stated that the vans were deployed for multiple cases helping collect 3432 pieces of evidence statewideAccording to officials the initiative has brought transparency in evidence collection and accelerated the process of establishing criminal culpability reported PTIThe state police are facing new challenges as the nature of crime changes every day and criminals use new methods which complicate investigations To match the evolving crime patterns the investigative machinery also needed an upgrade they said reported PTIEarlier investigation depended largely on eyewitness accounts and primary testimony with limited use of DNA analysis making speedy crime detection difficult With mobile forensic vans however it has become possible to collect all types of evidence directly from the crime scene the release statedWith inputs from PTI