At a discussion at the Western Regional Conference on women empowerment in the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, it was observed that even though there are numerous policies regarding women empowerment and upliftment, they are mostly failures as they aren’t implemented properly.
At the conference, the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan and the Union Territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli presented an assessment of these policies in their respective states. The primary reason that stood out for the failure of the plans was the lack of convergence at different ministries and departments, most often between the states and the Centre. Due to this, the plans and provisions have also not seen the penetration that had been envisioned.
“Although many government schemes aim to benefit women, many don’t reach the target population because of lack of coordination between different government departments,” admitted Varsha Gaikwad, minister for women and child welfare.
“Often, many schemes are announced and implemented directly by the Central government, and state governments remain unaware of their impact and reach. It will be better if they are implemented through state officials,” Ms Gaikwad said. “Moreover, welfare schemes for women require involvement of other departments like public works department for construction of toilets, the banking sector for opening zero balance accounts for poor women, public health sector to convince doctors to report cases of sexual abuse, among others.”
Vandana Krishna, principal secretary, women and child welfare department, spoke about the need for speedy trials and special courts for women’s issues. “We have 39 counselling centres in police stations to deal with cases of rape and domestic violence and 64 more are proposed,” she said.
Ms Krishna also suggested that video conferencing be used for deposition of women rape victims to reduce their trauma. However, her suggestion of reduction in compensation for rape victims from `2 lakh to `50,000 met with opposition from activists. Socio-legal implications of registering child marriages to acquire accurate data were also discussed at length.
“A national mission was specially set up to ensure convergence among different departments keeping women in focus. Now we are in the process of setting up state mission authorities and resource centres,” said Rashmi Singh, executive director, National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW).