   
BJP
TODAY
February 16--28, 2005 - Vol. 24, No. 4
NCW
: Six Fulfilling Years
It was a great moment when BJP Today asked me to pen my
experiences as a 'worker' of the National Commission for Women -- the
first three years formally designated as Member and the second three
years endowed with the responsibility as the Chairperson.
All over the world, women have been given lip service
by extolling their virtues. However, social realities have never matched
these pronouncements. In India, social divinizations have been proclaimed
but in reality social debasement continues to exist.
Empowerment of women is a civilizational imperative. The
practice of the past need not always be cited as a precedent to impede
future progress. There are three arguments being forwarded to substantiate
this claim:
1) The bedrock of our society and civilisation is changing
from brawn to brain. So far as brainpower is concerned, there is no
reason to believe that women are inferior.
2) Society can develop only when its resources are fully
utilised. If half of its resources are locked up within doors or mis-used,
the society cannot progress. It is only in an open society, where everyone
gets an opportunity that progress ensues.
3) Society has made a lot of progress based on knowledge
but there is a need now to bring in wisdom along with softness in society.
Aggressiveness and violence, whether in the form of frontier spirit
of moving out to win territories or exploiting markets, was the ancient
modus operandi; however, civilised society should now be able to grow
to its next level of development by emphasising the softer elements
i.e: values, sympathy, care and concern. In other words, the female
side of civilisation needs to be given prominence.
The National Commission for Women was set up in 1990.
The primary task of the Commission was to perform the "watchdog"
function to moot improvements in gender related provisions in various
laws and revitalise the process of accountability and implementation.
It was also expected to act as a conduit between women's organisations
and the Government. This could materialise only if the Commission was
given the necessary autonomy and those who had to 'man' the body were
neutral in their attitude and held the concerns of women as paramount
in their agendas of business.
Although setting up the Commission was a welcome step,
I regret to say that it was not sufficiently empowered. Unfortunately,
women are still treated as 'lesser' human beings. When the marginalised
sections like the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes started getting
recognition, the Commission formed to look at their concerns was given
Constitutional status. But for the Women's Commission, created to care
for women in general, any status was felt to be good enough. A vast
difference was created in the status of the Chairpersons and Members
of the other Commissions vis-a-vis the Women's Commission and that difference
still exists.
The Commission once constituted was meant to be consulted
on all matters concerning women. During my entire tenure as the Chairperson,
I made it a point to reiterate the provisions of section 16 of the National
Commission for Women Act, 1990, which states that "the Central
Government shall consult the Commission on all policy matters concerning
women" to all the Ministries and Departments of the Government
of India regularly in every quarter. But the achieving of the goal has
remained an illusion.
The NDA government enacted the laudable National Policy
for Empowerment of Women. The Commission has completed its homework
with about 15 State Consultations for working out the action plan based
on the process of consultation. The same now needs to be implemented.
In the last few years, the Commission has recorded steep
heights in its work graph. Despite tempests, the Commission pressed
forward on its voyage (wo)manfully tilting the sails as needed while
keeping its eye focused on the North star - the women's empowerment.
The Commission, acting singly or in teams, rushed to various parts of
the country to respond to the travails of women in distress -- some
as victims of class or caste wars, some as preys to vice, others as
targets of family feuds or political blunders. The respite given to
the suffering could melt even the rocks. In addition, the investigative
work of the Commission, focusing largely on reports of complaints reaching
the Commission about incidents of injustice or discrimination meted
out to women in a variety of circumstances brought out a plethora of
instances showing how slender is the claim to gender equality or equity
amongst genders in reality.
Significant is the massive evaluation work undertaken
by the Commission in respect of preparing the "Situational Analysis
of Women in the various States and Territories of the Union". This
monumental work initiated in 2003 was carried out with great vigour
in the next calendar year and it is an incredible achievement to have
completed this task in respect of all the States and Union Territories
of India (except Lakshadeep). This data of information collected from
the State administrations also brought the Commission in close contact
with different States machinery. The Commission later followed up its
agenda by taking up review of the work done of the States for removing
the deficiencies noticed earlier.
The Commission's work spanned every area of activity having
implications on women's life and dignity. The All India Home Secretaries
and Director Generals of Police Conference provided the first opportunity
for these senior officials to discuss gender issues including the safety
and security of women in the various States. These officers adopted
a twenty point resolution which now needs to be implemented in various
States which include the setting up of a Mahila desk in every police
station as well as a helpline for dealing with crimes against women.
The need to increase women police force in the country (today ranging
from 2% to 8%) was emphasised. Their working condition too needs to
be improved. The gender sensitisation course curriculum drafted by the
National Police Academy for the National Commission for Women has also
been incorporated in the course curriculum of Police Training Schools
and Academies of the States.
Several laws exist to protect the interests of women.
Some need amendments. Many, however, only need implementation. For example,
the sale of pornographic CDs in the markets of most cities and urban
towns has been an area of great concern. The Commission took up the
matter in all earnestness and directed that all State Governments ensure
due implementation of the provisions of sections 292 and 294 of the
Indian Penal Code. In the Anara Gupta case, at the behest of the Commission,
the Home Ministry sent the CD for forensic examination. It goes to the
credit of the National Forensic laboratory that the test was conducted
in a record time of a week and the results declared, followed by her
complete exoneration of the 'crime' she had never committed.
What can be more important to society than to ensure women's
health? At the All India Meeting of Health Secretaries, emphasis was
given to the subjects of maternal mortality, lack of reproductive health
services for women, population policy and the problem of missing girls.
What is also most distressing and calls for urgent attention is the
fast developing practice of Government doctors, collecting non-practicing
allowance and at the same time engaging in private practice during working
hours -- thus making their services unavailable for the needy women
who reach their doorstep. Also, for the first time, a kit on violence
and health has been prepared specifically keeping in mind the grass-root
worker, the Panchayat worker and the Aanganwadi worker. Access and availability
of affordable quality services to the women-folk is absolutely imperative.
For the first time, the All India Chief Justices of the
States sat along with the Chief Justice of India, Shri R.C. Lahoti,
and the Members of the Commission to discuss judicial treatment of gender
related issues and to work out an action plan to advance gender justice
in society. The Chief Justice of India reiterated "sensitised judiciary
is the best guarantee for even Justice". For promotion of confidence
of women in administration of justice, a judge may so regulate the court
proceedings that apprehension of gender bias is eliminated. He went
on to pronounce a seven-point formula for handling women related cases
and even ended by stating that "trial relating to crimes against
women ought to be held on priority basis lest the delay should defeat
justice."
I am happy to say that the entire gamut of work found
its meaningful reflections in the media reporting, which helped to disseminate
the recommendations of the Commission. Several journalists who interacted
with the Commission on a day-to-day basis suggested that the Commission
should not ignore its mandatory duty towards those who make the work
of the Commission known far and wide. A study on the status of women
journalists in the country was undertaken. Seeds were sown for a new
arena of thought. The process turned out to be much more difficult than
anticipated. The journalists were too scared to speak out. It made one
realise that those engaged in investigating and reporting the matters
of others are unable to hold up the flag of rights for themselves. Nevertheless,
about 400 women journalists interacted with the researchers and the
results culminated in a report titled "Status of Women Journalists".
Gory stories of harassment were related which find a mention in the
study. However, whereas other work of the Commission found ample reporting,
this study concerning the sisters of the journalists were left largely
unreported. Informally, we were informed that the stories were filed
but the space was not available; it is easy to understand that publishing
houses were not willing to publish material which would cast reflections
on them.
Another large section of citizens of the country which
the Commission interacted with intensely are the unorganised sector.
Contributing much to the labour force of the country, their concerns
have been largely ignored. The Commission went out of its way to hold
hands with the construction workers, the beedi workers or even the fisherwomen.
Besides the hearings with the bamboo workers, jute workers, tea planters,
coffee bean growers, safai karmacharis, the kota saree weavers, kolhapuri
chappal makers, screw-pine mat weavers etc. etc. - the list is endless.
Hearings were held with the oppressed Muslim women, the ignored tribal
women and the sidelined scheduled caste women. Their cries and pathetic
stories can never be wiped off from the minds of those who have witnessed
these hearings. One can only pray that the policymakers also create
the pathways for extending their divine arms to the downtrodden.
And towards the end of my tenure, the unprecedented tsunami
tragedy struck the eastern seaboard and islands of India. After consulting
the women victims, I interacted with the State Government of Tamil Nadu
and urged that the women's angle to rehabilitation should be kept in
the forefront. Our recommendations were welcomed and by and large agreed
to.
All said and done, the Commission provided a golden opportunity
for service to humankind - and the team did try to make the most of
it. The collective decisions at the Commission meetings by Smt. Baby
Rani Maurya, Smt. Sudha Malaiya, Ms Anusuiya Uike, Smt. Nafisa Hussain
and Smt Nirmala Sitharaman paved the way for the enormous work that
ensued. But all this could never have resulted had we not been given
this lifetime opportunity to serve the cause of millions of women of
the nation. Our heartfelt gratitude to the then Prime Minister, Shri
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then Deputy Prime Minister Shri Lal Krishna
Advani and the then Minister for Human Resource Development
Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi.
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