(a) whether the Sixth Conference of Commonwealth Ministers Responsible for Women\rquote s Affairs was held in New Delhi;
(b) if so, the highlights thereof;
(c) the recommendations made in the area of education, health, rural and urban development and community development; and
(d) the steps proposed to be taken by the Government to tackle the problems of women?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE
DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SUMITRA MAHAJAN)
(a) Yes, Sir.
(b) The conference/meeting, which is a triennial event, was
held from 17-19 April, 2000 and India hosted it for the
first time. 46 of the 54 member countries of the
Commonwealth including India attended the meeting.
Participants also included observers representing
international and regional agencies and organizations as
well as non-governmental organizations. The meeting was
inaugurated by the Hon`ble Prime Minister. The theme of the
meeting was ` Advancing the Commonwealth Agenda into the New
Millennium`. The Ministers discussed a range of issues
focusing on gender mainstreaming, macro-economic policies
and globalisation, women`s human rights, conflict and peace,
political participation and HIV/AIDS. The record of the
meeting will be issued by theCommonwealth Secretariat from
London.
(c) The recommendations made do not specifically or
directly relate to these areas.
(d) A note on the framework in place is attached
(Annexure).
ANNEXURE
TOWARDS EQUALITY
A concern with the status of women and recognition that
the progress of the nation is integrally linked with the
advancement of women, have under-pinned Indian planning and
policy since independence.
Since Independence, women have travelled a long way:
the thrust towards poverty eradication, investment in social
and economic infrastructure, spread of extension services,
information dissemination has brought about significant
improvements-
Significant gains have been recorded in the field of
health and demography. Expectation of life at birth for
females has risen steadily to 63 and has overtaken male life
expectancy. The crude birth rate has declined to 27.3 per
thousand population and Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) to 72
per thousand live births with sex differentials narrowing.
The gains in women`s education is reflected in the
female literacy rate from 39.3% in 1991 to 50.3% in 1997
which is more than the gains made by men. Enrolment of
girls in schools, women/girls in higher and technical
education has also shown significant upward trends.
Female Work Participation Rate (WPR) registered an
increase from 14.2% in 1971 to 22.3% in 1991. Women`s share
in the organized sector has steadily risen from 11.0% in
1971 to 15.9% in 1997.
The landmark achievements of 73rd and 74th
Constitutional Amendments in 1993 brought about a definite
impact on the participation of women in the grass-root
democracy through the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and
local bodies. Women have achieved participation even beyond
the mandatory requirement of one-third of total seats in
States like West Bengal (35.1%), Kerala (36.4%) and
Karnataka (43.4%).
Gender equality has received much greater attention
from the Government, the voluntary sector, academic
institutions and the civil society since 1995. Partnerships
have been developed with media and academic institutions,
the NGO sector to support gender mainstreaming.
THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA
The Constitution of India not only grants equality to
women, including universal adult franchise but also
empowers the State to adopt measures of positive
discrimination in favour of women. The Fundamental Rights,
among others, ensure equality before the law, equal
protection of law, prohibits discrimination against any
citizen on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place
of birth, and guarantees equality of opportunity to all
citizens in matters relating to employment. Article 14
confers on men and women equal rights and opportunities in
the political, economic and social spheres. While Article
15 prohibits discrimination against any citizen on the
grounds of religion, race, caste, sex etc., Article 15(3)
makes a special provision enabling the State to make
affirmative discriminations in favour of women. Similarly,
Article 16 provides for equality of opportunity in matters
of public employment without discrimination on the basis,
among others, of gender. Article 39(a) further mentions
that the State shall direct its policy towards securing all
citizens men and women, equally, the right to means of
livelihood, while Article 39(c) ensures equal pay for equal
work. Article 42 directs the State to make provision for
ensuring just and humane conditions of work and maternity
relief. Above all, the Constitution imposes a fundamental
duty on every citizen through Article 15 (A) (e) to
renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women.
LEGISLATIVE MEASURES
Special legislations have been enacted to make this de
jure equality into a de facto one. The State has enacted
several women-specific and women-related legislations to
protect women against social discrimination, violence and
atrocities and also to prevent social evils like child
marriage, dowry, rape, practice of Sati etc. The Equal
Remuneration Act of 1976 provides for equal pay to men and
women for equal work. The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955
amended in 1976 provides the right for a girl to repudiate a
child marriage before attaining maturity whether the
marriage has been consummated or not. The Immoral Traffic
(Prevention) Act of 1956 as amended and renamed in 1986
makes the sexual exploitation of male or female, a
cognizable offence. An amendment brought in 1984 to the
Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961 made women`s subjection to
cruelty a cognizable offence. The second amendment brought
in 1986 makes the husband or in-laws punishable, if a woman
commits suicide within 7 years of her marriage and it has
been proved that she has been subjected to cruelty. Also a
new criminal offence of `Dowry Death` has been incorporated
in the Indian Penal Code. The Child Marriage Restraint Act
of 1976 raises the age for marriage of a girl to 18 years
from 15 years and that of a boy to 21 years and makes
offences under this Act cognizable. The Factories Act of
1948 (amended up to 1976) provides for establishment of a
creche where 30 women are employed (including casual and
contract labourers). The Medical Termination of Pregnancy
Act 1971 legalizes abortion by qualified professional on
humanitarian or medical grounds. Amendments to Criminal Law
1983 provide for a punishment of 7 years in ordinary cases
of rape and 10 years for custodial rape cases. The maximum
punishment may go up to life imprisonment. A new enactment
of Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act of
1986 and the Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 have
also been passed to protect the dignity of women and prevent
violence against them as well as their exploitation.
INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS
Department of Women and Child Development
The Department of Women and Child Development was set
up in the year 1985 as a part of the Ministry of Human
Resource Development to give the required impetus to the
development of women and children. In its capacity as the
nodal agency looking after the advancement of women and
children, the Department formulates plans, policies, and
programmes, enacts/amends legislations affecting women and
children and guides and coordinates the efforts of both
governmental and non-governmental organizations working in
the field of women and child development. Apart from this,
the Department of Women and Child Development also
implements certain innovative programmes for women and
children. These programmes are in the area of employment
and income generation, welfare and support services, gender
sensitization, training for employment and income generation
and awareness generation.
National Commission for Women
A national apex level statutory body called the
National Commission for Women was constituted on 31.1.92
through the National Commission for Women Act, 1990. The
functions of the Commission include investigating the
Constitutional and legal safeguards provided to women and to
recommend to the Government measures for their effective
implementation. The Chairperson of the National Commission
for Women is an ex-officio Member of the National Human
Rights Commission. In accordance with the mandate, the
Commission is in the process reviewing 39 laws concerning
women. As many as 17 State Governments have also set up
state level women commissions.
Parliament Committee on Empowerment of Women
A Parliament Committee on Empowerment of Women has been
constituted in 1997 for considering the reports of the
National Commission for Women, to examine the measures taken
by the Government to secure women`s equality and to report
on the working of welfare programmes for women etc. The
Committee presented its first report on ` Developmental
Schemes for Rural Women` to the Lok Sabha on 21.4.1999.
Committee on Gender Mainstreaming.
The Department of Women and Child Development, in its
nodal capacity, undertakes Inter-Ministerial Review of the
progress of 27 Beneficiary Oriented Schemes for Women.
Recently, the existing Review Committee has been renamed as
`Committee for Gender Mainstreaming in Government` with the
mandate of reviewing the impact of welfare schemes for women
on their lives.
A Task Force to review all existing legislations and
Government schemes with a view to enhance women`s access to
national resources and to ensure their rightful place in the
mainstream of economic development is being constituted. The
Task Force will also chalk out specific programmes for
observing the year 2001 as` Women`s Empowerment Year` .
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW)
India ratified the Convention on 25.6.93 with one
reservation and two declaratory statements. The First
Country Report submitted to the CEDAW Committee was
considered in January, 2000. In the course of the hearing,
the CEDAW Committee members, inter-alia, recommended that
the Convention be widely disseminated and translated into
the regional languages in the country.
Beijing Platform for Action (1995)
The fourth UN World Conference on Women focussed on
negotiating a global policy document`Platform for Action`.
It calls upon governments to take action on 12 critical
areas of concern. The Conference clearly accelerated the
process of economical, social and political changes that
were sparked by the first International Women`s Conference
in 1975. The Beijing Conference was a milestone; the
Declaration and Platform for Action were a call to
commitment and action, representing the culmination of a
chain of global conferences on women Mexico (1975),
Copenhagen (1980) and Nairobi (1985). The Department has
initiated the process of review of the progress made in the
country regarding implementation of the PFA. Besides
collecting information from various other
Ministries/Departments of the Government and the State
Governments/Union Territory Administrations, a feedback
questionnaire was sent to NGOs active in the field of gender
justice and women`s empowerment to obtain information on
their work in the field. Beijing Plus Five India Country
Report is presently under preparation.
SCHEMES FOR WOMEN
For achieving the goal of self-sustenance and economic
empowerment of women, the Government has launched many
schemes such as Support to Training cum Employment
Programme, Setting up of Employment cum Production Units for
Women, Socio-Economic Programme, Rashtriya Mahila Kosh,
Indira Mahila Yojana, Condensed Courses for Education and
Vocation Training etc. For creating awareness about the
rights of women, schemes such as Awareness Generation
Programme, Education Work for Prevention of Atrocities
Against women have been launched. The Government has
revamped the Scheme of Balika Samriddhi Yojana in 1999 under
which a woman in a family living below the poverty line to
whom a female child was born was given an incentive of
Rs.500/-. This Scheme new provides for the incentive and, in
addition, annual scholarships for schooling, to be
deposited in the name of the girl child.
The Rural Women`s Development and Empowerment Project
(RWDEP) (Swa- Shakti Project) was sanctioned as a Centrally
Sponsored Project during October`98 to strengthen the
process of and to create an environment for empowerment of
women in 35 Districts of 6 States. Under this Project, 12000
Self Help Groups of Women will be organized in a span of
five years.
With a view to enhance the capacity of field level
functionaries and other development related practitioners,
the Department has initiated a collaborative project with
IGNOU and ISRO for starting a certificate course in the
Distance Education mode on Women`s Group Mobilization and
Empowerment. The first programme is scheduled to start in
July, 2000.