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Smt.
Anita Patnaik**
The status of women in India has
been undergoing a sea-change. Supported by
Constitutional guarantees to ensure dignity and
equal opportunities, their active participation in
all walks of life including education, politics,
sport etc., has been growing. Taking note of women’s
role in the nation-building activities, the
Government had declared 2001 as the year of Women’s
Empowerment by adopting a National Policy to offer
“Swashakti” to women. Several laws have also been
adopted to empower women socially, economically,
legally and politically. Considering the role of
rural India, the country’s backbone, the Government
had taken several measures to strengthen Pachayanti
Raj system with the active participation of women.
This gave a boost to increase the number of women
being elected to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies,
an indication to suggest their political
empowerment.
National Policy for the Empowerment of Women –
2001
The principle of gender equality is enshrined in the
Indian Constitution in its Preamble, Fundamental
Rights, Fundamental Duties and Directive Principles
of State Policy. The Constitution not only
guarantees equality to women, but also empowers the
State to adopt measures of positive discrimination
in favour of women. Since the Fifth Five Year Plan
(1974-78), India has been making a marked shift in
its approach to women’s issues from welfare to
development while keeping the empowerment of women
as the central issue in determining their status in
the society. The National Commission for Women was
set up by an Act of Parliament in 1990 to safeguard
the rights and legal entitlements of women. The 73rd
and 74th Amendments to the Constitution in 1993 have
provided for reservation of seats in the local
bodies of Panchayats and Municipalities for women,
laying a strong foundation for their participation
in decision-making at the local levels. India has
also ratified various international conventions and
human rights instruments committing to secure equal
rights of women. Key among them is the ratification
of the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1993.
Goals and Objectives
The goals of the National Policy is to bring about
the advancement, development and empowerment of
women. The objectives include creating an
environment through positive economic and social
policies for development of women to enable them to
realise their full potential, access to health care,
quality education, employment, equal remuneration
and social security. They also include elimination
of discrimination and all forms of violence against
women and the girl child and changing societal
attitudes.
National Mission for Empowerment of Women
The Government has set up a National Mission for
Empowerment of Women early this year and the same
has been notified on 8th of March, 2010. The Mission
aims at implementing the women-centric programmes in
a mission mode to achieve better coordination. The
Ministry of Women and Child Development is
administering the Support to Training and Employment
Programme of Women (STEP) scheme with a view to help
assetless and marginalised women become economically
self-reliant. The scheme also aims at providing
training for skill upgradation, development of
entrepreneurial skills, asset creation, mobilisation
into small viable groups to enable beneficiaries to
take up employment-cum-income generation
activities.The Ministry has also launched the
“Priyadarshini” scheme to empower vulnerable groups
of women in a holistic and sustainable manner by
addressing their social, political, legal, health
related and economic problems through vigorous
capacity-building by organising them into Self-Help
Groups (SHGs).
Swarjjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY)
The Ministry is also implementing the Centrally
sponsored scheme. The scheme is desinged to promote
self-employment oriented income generating
activities for the BPL households in the rural
areas. Special safeguards have been provided for
vulnerable sections by way of reserving 50 per cent
benefits to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes,
40 per cent for women, 15 per cent for minorities
and 3 per cent for disabled persons. Since its
inception, about 37 lakh SHGs have been formed and
134 lakh swarozgaris assisted, out of which,
approximately 70 lakh (52 per cent) are women. The
Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) scheme extends
micro-credit support for income generation to poor
women grouped into SHGs in unorganised sector.
India Vision 2020
India Vision 2020 document, while discussing about
women in the labour force has, inter alia, mentioned
that secure child care support services are
necessary for working women. The 11th Five Year Plan
document of the Planning Commission incorporated
various schemes and programmes for women and child
development. It also mentions about the setting up
of creches in unorganised sector and restructuring
and revamping of the existing Rajiv Gandhi National
Creche Scheme for the children of working mothers.
Helplines for Women
As per 2001 census, there are 34.3 million widows
and 2.34 million divorced and separated women in the
country. The Ministry of Women and Child Development
is implementing shelter-based schemes namely
“Swadhar” and “Short Stay Homes” under which
financial assistance is provided to the implementing
agencies for providing support services to women in
difficult circumstances. Under the scheme of
Integrated Programme for Older persons implemented
by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment,
financial assistance is provided to NGOs for running
and maintenance of Multi Facility Care Centre for
older widowed women. The Ministry of Rural
Development is implementing Indira Gandhi National
Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS) and Indira Gandhi
National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS), under
which central assistance is given towards a monthly
pension of Rs.200 to widows below the poverty line
in the age group of 40 to 64.
Women’s Leadership Summit 2010
The Ministry has organised a Women’s Leadership
Summit in New Delhi on 6th of March this year as
part of the celebrations for the International
Women’s Day. The objective of the Summit,
inaugurated by the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan
Singh, was to showcase empowered women, those who
had excelled in different fields. The central theme
of the Summit was Inclusive Growth and Empowering
Women of Rural India. Several women achievers spoke
on challenges and opportunities for women in diverse
fields such as corporate sector, financial services,
agriculture, science, media, panchayati raj, sports,
culture, education and law. Government’s 100 Days
Action Plan
As part of the 100 days Action Plan, the government
had proposed several measures to increase the
representation of women. It has also proposed
Constitutional amendment to provide 50 percent
reservation for women in Panchayats and in urban
local bodies and to increase the representation of
women in government jobs.
India’s Tirade Against Anti-Woman Activities
The Government has been adopting several stringent
measures to uphold the status of women in India by
launching a tirade against injustices done to them.
They included protection against domestic violence,
stopping crime against child and women, human
trafficking, sexual harassment at work place,
eliminating beggary among women and street children,
child marriages, harassment in dowry related
matters, malnutrition among women and children,
providing relief and rehabilitation to rape victims.
The Centre has allocated Rs.11,000 crore to the
Ministry of Women and Child Development for the year
2010-11, an increase of around 50 per cent over last
year’s Budget Estimates of Rs.7,350 crore. (PIB
Features)
Disclaimer : The views expressed by the author in
this feature are entirely her own and do not
necessarily reflect the views of PIB
RTS/VN
SS-112/SF-112/06.07.2010
**Freelance Writer
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