Parliament of India Lok Sabha
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
07 PARLIAMENT OF INDIA LOK SABHA COMMITTEE ON EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN (2010-2011) (FIFTEENTH LOK SABHA) SEVENTH REPORT „EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN THROUGH PANCHAYATI RAJ INSTITUTIONS‟ [Action Taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in the Third Report (Fifteenth Lok Sabha) of the Committee on Empowerment of Women (2009-2010) on ‘Empowerment of Women through Panchayati Raj Institutions’] LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI MARCH, 2011/PHALGUNA, 1932 (Saka) 1 SEVENTH REPORT COMMITTEE ON EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN (2010-2011) (FIFTEENTH LOK SABHA) „EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN THROUGH PANCHAYATI RAJ INSTITUTIONS‟ [Action Taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in the Third Report (Fifteenth Lok Sabha) of the Committee on Empowerment of Women (2009-10) on ‘Empowerment of Women through Panchayati Raj Institutions’] Presented to Lok Sabha on 16th March, 2011 Laid in Rajya Sabha on 16th March, 2011 LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI MARCH, 2011/PHALGUNA, 1932 (Saka) 2 E.W.C. No. 65. PRICE: Rs._____ © 2010 BY LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT Published under ……………………………………… 3 CONTENTS PAGE Composition of the Committee on Empowerment of Women (2010-2011) INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I Report CHAPTER II Observations/Recommendations which have been accepted by the Government……………………...……. CHAPTER III Observations/Recommendations which the Committee do not desire to pursue in view of the replies of the Government……………..…………………………..…….. CHAPTER IV Observations/Recommendations in respect of which the replies of the Government have not been accepted by the Committee ..……………………………………….. CHAPTER V Observations/Recommendations in respect of which the Government have furnished interim replies………….…………………………………………… ANNEXURES I-VIII of replies ……………………………………………………………….. APPENDICES I Minutes of the sitting of the Committee on Empowerment of Women (2010-2011) held on 10th March, 2011 ……….. II Analysis of the Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations contained in the Third Report of the Committee (Fifteenth Lok Sabha) ……………………………..…………. 4 COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE ON EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN (2010-2011) ***** Shrimati Chandresh Kumari - Hon‟ble Chairperson MEMBERS LOK SABHA 2. Shrimati Shruti Choudhary 3. Shrimati Ashwamedh Devi 4. Shrimati Rama Devi 5. Shrimati Jyoti Dhurve 6. Shrimati Priya Dutt 7. Shri T.K.S. Elangovan 8. Shrimati Sumitra Mahajan 9. Dr. Jyoti Mirdha 10. Shri Sidhant Mohapatra 11. Kumari Meenakshi Natarajan 12. Shrimati Mausam Noor 13. Shrimati Jayshreeben Patel 14. Shrimati Sushila Saroj 15. Shrimati Yashodhara Raje Scindia 16. Shrimati Rajesh Nandini Singh 17. Shri Uma Shankar Singh 18. Shrimati Supriya Sadanand Sule 19. Shrimati Annu Tandon 20. Shrimati Seema Upadhyay RAJYA SABHA 21. Shrimati Shobhana Bhartia 22. Shrimati Naznin Faruque 23. Shri Jabir Husain 24. Shrimati Kanimozhi 25. Shrimati Brinda Karat 26. Shri Ambeth Rajan 27. Shrimati Maya Singh 28. Shrimati Vasanthi Stanley 29. Dr. C.P. Thakur 30. Dr. Prabha Thakur SECRETARIAT 1. Shri Raj Shekhar Sharma Joint Secretary 2. Shri C.S. Joon Director 3. Smt. Reena Gopalakrishnan Under Secretary 5 INTRODUCTION I, the Chairperson, Committee on Empowerment of Women having been authorized by the Committee to submit the Report on their behalf, present this Seventh Report (Fifteenth Lok Sabha) on the action taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in their Third Report (Fifteenth Lok Sabha) on „Empowerment of Women through Panchayati Raj Institutions‟. 2. The Third Report (Fifteenth Lok Sabha) of the Committee on Empowerment of Women was presented to Lok Sabha on 4th May, 2010 and laid in Rajya Sabha on 4th May, 2010. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has furnished the action taken replies to all the Observations/Recommendations contained in the Report. 3. The Committee on Empowerment of Women (2010-2011) considered and adopted the Seventh Report at their sitting held on 10th March, 2011. Minutes of the sitting are given at Appendix I. 4. An Analysis of the action taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in the Third Report (Fifteenth Lok Sabha) of the Committee is given in Appendix II. 5. For facility of reference and convenience, the Observations/Recommendations of the Committee have been printed in bold letters in the body of the Report. NEW DELHI SMT. CHANDRESH KUMARI 10 March, 2011 CHAIRPERSON 19 Phalguna 1932 (Saka) COMMITTEE ON EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN 6 CHAPTER I REPORT This Report of the Committee deals with the action taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in the Third Report (Fifteenth Lok Sabha) of the Committee on Empowerment of Women on the subject „Empowerment of Women through Panchayati Raj Institutions‟. The Third Report of the Committee was presented to Lok Sabha on 4th May, 2010. The report was simultaneously laid in Rajya Sabha. 2. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj were, thereafter, requested to furnish action taken replies on the recommendations contained in the Report. Replies of the Government in respect of all the 16 recommendations/observations have since been received and are categorized as under:- i) Observations/Recommendations which have been accepted by the Government. Recommendation Para Nos:-70, 73, 74, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 83 and 84. (Total-11) ii) Observations/Recommendations which the Committee do not desire to pursue in view of the replies of the Government. Nil. iii) Observations/Recommendations in respect of which replies of the Government have not been accepted by the Committee and which require reiteration. Recommendation Para Nos:- 71, 72 and 82 (Total-3) iv) Observations/Recommendations in respect of which the Government have furnished interim replies. Recommendation Para Nos:- 75, 85 (Total-2) 7 3. The Committee trust that utmost importance would be given by the Government to the implementation of their recommendations. In case where it is not possible for the Government to implement the recommendations in letter and spirit for any reason, the matter should be reported to the Committee with reasons for non-implementation. The Committee further desire that the Action Taken Notes on the recommendations/observations contained in Chapter- I of this Report should be furnished by the Government expeditiously. 4. The Committee will now deal with those action taken replies of the Government which need reiteration or merit comments. A. Data base on the socio-economic profile of Elected Women Representatives of PRIs (Recommendation Para No. 71) 5. The Committee had observed that ever since the advent of Panchayati Raj system in the country, three rounds of elections had been conducted in most of the States. However, a proper compilation of the data pertaining to the socio- economic profile of the Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) had not been done by many States. Most of the States had compiled only the data pertaining to the number and percentage of EWRs and their SC&ST bifurcation. However, the Committee had found that the Ministry of Panchayati Raj had got a nation wide survey carried out by the well-known firm AC Nielsen-ORG Marg which covered 23 States, 114 Districts, and 228 Blocks and 1368 Gram Panchayats (out of which 907 were women headed Gram Panchayats). Although a rough picture regarding the status of women could be drawn from such a survey, the exact and comprehensive data on age, education, primary occupation, economic category, etc. of EWRs all over the country was not available with the Government. Even the data on women multi-termers could not be provided by many States. As no survey findings could substitute a complete database, States should generate a complete data bank on the socio-economic profile of elected representatives of PRIs, especially women. The Committee, therefore, 8 had recommended that the Ministry of Panchayati Raj should impress upon the State Election Commissions to prepare a comprehensive/complete data bank on the socio-economic profile of elected representatives of PRIs at the earliest under intimation to the Committee. 6. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj, in its action taken reply on the aforementioned recommendation has, inter-alia, stated as under:- “All the States/ UTs were requested to provide the socio economic profile of elected representatives of PRIs. As on date, information has been received from the States of Sikkim, Rajasthan and Lakshadweep only.” Comments of the Committee 7. In view of the absence of a complete database on the socio-economic profile of elected representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions, especially that of women, the Committee had recommended that the Ministry of Panchayati Raj should impress upon the State Election Commissions to prepare a comprehensive data bank on the same at the earliest under intimation to the Committee. However, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj in their Action Taken Reply has submitted that though all the States/ UTs had been requested to provide the socio economic profile of elected representatives of PRIs, so far only the States of Sikkim, Rajasthan and Lakshadweep have provided the information. In this connection, the Committee strongly feel that the exact and comprehensive data on age, education, primary occupation, economic category, etc. of elected representatives of the PRIs in the country would be a valuable document in itself. The Committee, therefore, reiterate that the Ministry of Panchayati Raj should make concrete efforts in facilitating the preparation of a comprehensive data bank regarding the socio-economic profile of elected representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions by constantly