Training-cum-Protection Centre, Jalandhar (Punjab)

What is the Training-cum-Protection Centre in Punjab?

Training-cum-Protection Centre is an institution at Jalandhar run by the Department of Social Security and Development of Women & Children, Government of Punjab. The department describes it as a training-cum-production centre, and that hyphenated description is the whole point of the scheme: women admitted there are not put through a classroom course and sent away, they are trained on real production work and paid for what they produce.

According to the department's state schemes page, inmates at the centre are provided technical training in cutting, tailoring, embroidery and leather or plastic goods, and they also make the uniforms of the employees of the Police Department. The page states plainly that they are provided wages for the work done by them.

For a woman who has left an abusive home, lost a husband, or been left without any means of subsistence, the difference between a training scheme and a training-cum-production centre is practical. In the second case there is an income from the first months, and there is a trade, tailoring or embroidery, that can be carried back to her own village afterwards and turned into self-employment.

Who is eligible for the Training-cum-Protection Centre?

Women who can be taken in:

• Women in distress and destitute women of Punjab who need shelter, a trade and an income.
• Women referred by the district administration, by the department's own institutions, or by the Women's Helpline system.
• Women physically able to do tailoring, embroidery or leather and plastic goods work, since the centre's model depends on production.
• Residents of Punjab, as the centre is maintained from the state budget.

Who cannot apply or is not eligible:

• Men cannot apply. The centre is a women's institution of the department.
• A woman looking for a paid commercial tailoring course as a fee-paying student is not eligible, because this is a protection institution and admission runs on need, not on enrolment.
• Cases arising under the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act, 1956 are handled at the State Protective Home, Jalandhar, not here, though that home also gives vocational training in cutting, tailoring and embroidery along with free boarding, lodging and medical facilities.
• A woman who needs only shelter and maintenance, and cannot take up production work, is better placed at the Home for Widows and Destitute, Jalandhar, where the department pays a cash dole of Rs 2,000 per month per beneficiary and provides free accommodation, electricity, water and medical assistance.
• Where seats at the Jalandhar centre are full, an otherwise fit case has to wait for a vacancy.

The department publishes no income ceiling, age bar or caste condition for this centre. The assessment is on distress and destitution, made at district level.

How to apply for the Training-cum-Protection Centre

1. Approach the District Programme Officer (DPO) of your district. The department's own note on its state schemes page is that for the benefits, validity and application procedure of a scheme, you should contact your nearest DPO. That is the single correct starting point.
2. Apply in writing. Describe the woman's circumstances, why she has no means of support, and what work she is able to do. Ask for a receiving on your copy, because the diary number is what you will quote in every follow-up.
3. Attach the documents — Aadhaar card, Punjab residence proof, a bank passbook in the woman's own name for wages, and, where relevant, the husband's death certificate or other evidence supporting the destitution claim.
4. Cooperate with the district inquiry. The district staff verify the situation and, if the case is fit, recommend admission to the department's institution at Jalandhar.
5. Report to the centre on admission with the approval letter and the original documents, and give the bank details to the centre so that wages for completed work can be paid without delay.

In an emergency, call first. Punjab's women's helplines are 181 and 1091, the child helpline is 1098, and the helpline for the elderly is 14567. Immediate safety is handled through those numbers; the training centre file follows afterwards.

How are wages paid and what work is done?

The centre's production line, as described by the department, covers cutting, tailoring, embroidery, and leather and plastic goods, and includes stitching uniforms for employees of the Police Department. Departmental uniform orders give the centre a steady institutional customer, which is what allows it to pay wages rather than a token stipend.

The department has not published a per-piece rate or a monthly wage figure for the centre, so no rupee amount should be assumed. Ask three questions at admission and get the answers in writing: how wages are calculated for the trade you are placed in, how often they are paid, and to which account. Keep your own record of pieces completed, because that record is what a wage dispute is settled on.

How do you follow up on an application?

Follow-up runs through the district, not through the centre. Quote the diary number of your written application to the District Programme Officer and ask two specific questions; whether the case has been recommended and forwarded, and whether a seat is available at the Jalandhar centre. Those separate the two common reasons a file stalls.

If the district does not respond, write to the Department of Social Security and Development of Women & Children, which lists itcell-sswcd@punjab.gov.in as a departmental contact, and lodge a grievance on the Punjab government's citizen grievance portal at connect.punjab.gov.in against the department.

Why do cases fail, and what fixes them?

• No seat available. Ask for the case to be kept pending against a vacancy rather than returned.
• Wrong institution chosen. Shelter-only cases belong at the Home for Widows and Destitute; trafficking cases at the State Protective Home. Naming the right institution in the application saves months.
• Destitution not documented. A verbal account of abandonment is weaker than a written statement recorded during the DPO's inquiry. Ask for it to be recorded.
• Missing bank account. Wages cannot be paid into someone else's account. Open one in the woman's own name before admission.
• Informal application. Requests made in person without a written application leave no trace and cannot be followed up.

What else does the Punjab department offer women in the same situation?

The Training-cum-Protection Centre is one item in a wider list run by the same department, and the same District Programme Officer handles all of them. Also available are the Home for Widows and Destitute, Jalandhar with its Rs 2,000 monthly cash dole; the State Protective Home, Jalandhar under the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act, 1956; Bebe Nanki Laadli Beti Kalyan Scheme for girl children, with assistance of up to Rs 61,000; the Mai Bhago Vidya Scheme giving free bicycles to girl students of classes 9 to 12; concessional bus travel for women aged 60 and above; scholarships for students with disabilities at Rs 200 a month for classes 1 to 8 and Rs 300 a month from class 9; an attendance scholarship for rural girl students with disabilities of Rs 2,500 a year up to class 10 and Rs 3,000 a year from class 11; and financial assistance of Rs 8,000 per month to acid attack victims rendered 40 per cent disabled.

A woman going to the DPO about the training centre should ask about these in the same visit. Several of them run alongside institutional admission rather than instead of it.

Key facts at a glance

• Institution: Training-cum-Protection Centre, Jalandhar, described by the department as a training-cum-production centre.
• Department: Social Security and Development of Women & Children, Punjab.
• Trades: cutting, tailoring, embroidery, leather and plastic goods; uniforms for Police Department employees.
• Payment: wages for the work done, no fixed rate published.
• Route: District Programme Officer of your district.
• Helplines: Women 181 and 1091, Child 1098, Elderly 14567.
• Related institutions at Jalandhar: Home for Widows and Destitute; State Protective Home.