PR 280818.Pdf

August 28, 2018 MEMORANDUM Women are 50% of the country’s population. They have been historically and structurally oppressed.The recognition of such systematic oppression finds its appraisal even in the constitutional scheme of things as formulated by our fore- fathers and mothers. Article 14 guarantees equality before the law and Article 15(3) allows the state to enact special laws and policies for women and children. Article 15(3) indeed attempts to bridge the gap between as things are and as they have been normatively envisioned under Article 14.In this regard, the empowerment of women is not only a concern of a class of citizens, but also of the country as a whole. Needless to say, the women of India are a crucial part of the Indian Growth story and its success, and to leave them out is to compromise on our own growth and development. This has also been observed by the High-Level Committee on the Status of Women in its 2016 report. The structural discrimination and oppression that women face incurs a cost on the demographic dividend that India has the opportunity to reap till the year 2030. The discrimination of women has to be combatted in all spheres, in view of the above, the Hon’ble Congress President has received several public memorandums on the following issues: (A) Need for compulsory registration of marriages for NRIs; (B) Issues facing the National Creche Scheme; (C) Social Audits of Shelter Homes. (A) Need for compulsory registration of marriages for NRIs Many of the women who have married NRIs face desertion and are invariably left without a legal remedy in absence of proper details of the husband. The Chairperson of Punjab Women’s State Commission recently took up the matter with the office of the Minister of External Affairs. She stated that over 30,000 Legal cases of abandonment are pending in Punjab alone. This is a stark indicator of the magnitude of this problem. Page 1 of 4 In order to study the problem in greater detail, an Expert Committee Panel headed by Justice Arvind Kumar Goel (Retired) was notified on May 31, 2017. The Committee submitted its report on August 30, 2017. We reserve our right to comment on the committee’s recommendations. The committee observed that there is a requirement to a large extent to give effect to the existing laws and bi- lateral treaties. Significantly, the committee recommended that a marriage between an Indian Citizen and an NRI must be registered compulsorily and a law must be given effect. Such a legislation was introduced in Parliament under the erstwhile UPA government in the form of the Births and Deaths Registration (Amendment) Bill, 2012 which was passed by the Rajya Sabha but couldn’t be passed by the Lok Sabha due to the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha for elections. Therefore, the bill lapsed. Such a bill has also been recommended by the Law Commission of India in its 270th report issued on July 4, 2017. It is quite clear that in the absence of a law to register these marriages compulsorily, prosecution or adjudication of justice is practically impossible. Therefore, it is essential that this law be enacted at the earliest to ensure justice is done in the cases of these women. Since November 2017, there have been various media reports claiming that the Government will introduce a bill to this effect. Further, the Government only recently informed the Parliament of its intent to introduce and pass such a bill in an answer to a Lok Sabha question (Unstarred Question No 1156) on July 25, 2018. We would urge you to take swift action on the above-mentioned issue to ensure that justice is brought to these women and their families because the Integrated Nodal Agencies that have been set up is not sufficient. (B) Issues facing the National Creche Scheme It is well established that the number of women joining the workforce is much less than what is desirable. One of the primary reasons are owed to the fact that women are the primary care-takers of the children in any family. In light of that, while the government has amended the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 to make the facility of a creche compulsory in the private organised sector, it has done injustice to the working women in the unorganised sector by diluting Rajiv Gandhi National Crèche Scheme for Working Mothers. As you may be well aware, with a view to improve child care and assist working mothers, the Rajiv Gandhi National Crèche Scheme for Working Mothers was Page 2 of 4 introduced by the UPA in 2006. The scheme has now not only been renamed as National Crèche Scheme but also restructured in a manner which is clearly detrimental to the very idea of empowering and equipping women economically. The scheme under the current Government was converted from a Central Sector Scheme to a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. The existing funding pattern of Centre: State has been changed from 90:10 to 60:40. The change has been in effect from 01.01.2017. Further the Central Government has transferred Welfare Projects under Central Sector ear-marked for Voluntary Organisations and NGOs to the State Governments. A PIB1 press release dated April 7, 2017 indicates a decline in the number of operational creches and beneficiaries: Year 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17* No. of Creches 19809 18427 16853 11666 operational Number of Beneficiaries: Year No. of beneficiaries 2013-14 474775 2014-15 446925 2015-16 420725 2016-17 * 290925 *The Scheme has been transferred to State Govts. for implementation w.e.f 01.01.2017 Recent data has shown that, there are more women in the Unorganised Sector than men and diluting the Rajiv Gandhi National Crèche Scheme for Working Mothers now renamed as the National Crèche Scheme has impacted the job opportunity of all these women. It is the duty of the government to ensure that schemes under the Umbrella-ICDS give women the support they need to pursue any employment. Effective day care for young children is essential for providing support to both mothers and young children. Child care facilities and Crèches have been an integral part of various legislations. Also, as per the media reports from 1http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=16066 Page 3 of 4 2015 indicating that the PMO wrote to your office to increase the number of government-funded crèches in the country. We urge you to inquire into the matter and ensure that there are adequate numbers of Crèches and see why there has been a fall in the number of operational crèches and beneficiaries. (C) Social Audit of Shelter Homes The Swadhar Greh Scheme was initiated to provide institutional support for rehabilitation of women victims of difficult circumstances so that they could lead their life with dignity.The incidents of sexual abuse that have been reported from Muzzafarpur, Bihar and Deoria in UP highlight that the realities have been in contradiction to the intention of the scheme. In response to this, the Mahila Congress visited various Shelter Homes across India. While they were barred entry in most of the Shelter Homes, the ones they were allowed in were not in the best condition. Given, that these shelter homes are for the rehabilitation of women, we urge you to allow a third party independent of the government auditor within the next 6 months to conduct social audits of all such homes across the country and make all these reports public. We also were surprised to see that the women in shelter homes were not happy with the quality of food and treatment being meted out. Further we demand that CCTV cameras be installed in these Shelter Homes and all the NGOs that are being allowed to run these homes must have their background thoroughly checked. (Sushmita Dev) Ms. Sharmistha Mukherjee Ms. Neetu Verma Soin Dr. Onika Mehrotra Ms. Shamina Shafiq Ms. Chitra Sarwara Page 4 of 4 .

Load more