Union Minister Maneka Gandhi on Monday stressed on the need for training and development of elected women representatives of the Panchayati Raj institutions (PRIs) to ensure fruits of development reach the grassroots level through their participation.

She was addressing a gathering at the inaugural ceremony of the fifth regional centre of National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD) at Mohali, a Press Information Bureau release said.

NIPCCD is a premier organisation devoted to promotion of voluntary action, research, training, and documentation in the overall domain of women and child development.

Four other NIPCCD regional centres are those at Bengaluru, Guwahati, Indore and Lucknow.

Gandhi also took a round of the newly built centre at Mohali.

She visited the child guidance centre wherein many playing tools and materials, exclusively prepared by NIPCCD for pre-school children, were on display.

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