The final draft of the National Policy for Women (NPW) is ready to be tabled in Parliament as the Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has submitted their recommendations, ranging from time-bound disposal of matrimonial disputes, free education for girls belonging to poor families to better hostel facilities for working women.
Last year on 16 July, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) had sent the proposed NPW, a new policy intended to guide the government action on improving the conditions of women over the next 15-20 years, for Cabinet approval.
The Prime Minister Narednra Modi-led government took into account the proposed NPW and formed a Group of Ministers headed by Swaraj for making the final draft.
“The government should change the laws to ensure time-bound disposal of matrimonial disputes, make education free for girls belonging to poor families and provide better facilities for working women,” the recommendations of the draft NPW reads.
The draft NPW suggested that women convicts in non-heinous crimes, who have served a third of their jail time as under-trials, be released. Other recommendations included providing Aadhaar-linked health cards to all women and setting up of better and larger facilities for homeless widows.
Most of the suggestions were made by the GoM. Suggestions from the public and experts were also taken into consideration. “After analysing and scrutinising all the suggestions we have now scripted the final draft of the NPW,” a senior official of MWCD, who was involved in the drafting process, said on the condition of anonymity,.
“One idea that failed to get a place in the NPW was that of Swaraj, who wanted men to study home science and learn culinary skills, while women to take up physical education, especially martial arts,” the official said.
According to the MWCD, the policy is roughly based on the Pam Rajput Committee report set up by the MWCD in 2012, which submitted its recommendations last year, including a suggested national policy for women and an action plan to end violence against women. Once the Cabinet approves it, different ministries will have to incorporate the changes recommended in their respective miseries law.
But the NPW draft has invited criticism by some who feel there is nothing revolutionary in it. “Fifteen years after the last National Policy for Empowerment of Women (NPEW) in 2001 initiated by the then Atal Behari Vajpayee government, it was expected that the draft of the new policy would have new elements and greater insights. Instead, it appears to be a repeat of the old and a listing of new areas without anything to convince people that this is more than just a list of intentions,” Geetanjali, associate professor and scholar at Tata Institute of Social sciences (TISS), said.
“The NPW didn’t make for a consummate plan to battle the economic discrimination, physical violence and social prejudices that women face. It was drafted at a time when Internet and social media weren’t entrenched in the socio-political narratives. The NPW is silent on marital rape,” Geetanjali added.
However, a clarification note forwarded by Maneka Gandhi on the alleged re-scripting of the old draft as the new NPW, stated “Several things have changed since the last Policy of 2001, especially women’s attitude towards themselves and their expectations from life.” Maneka Gandhi further said that “in view of this, the new draft policy shifts the focus from entitlements to rights and from empowerment to creating an enabling environment”.