NCW a place for political appointees

The Status of Women Report 1975 had correctly identified that the biggest problem for women is not just conferring the status due to them but also absence of adequate laws, budget, programmes and projects.

There was no institution designed to push women agenda on the national scene or undertake advocacy on their behalf. These anamolies were first highlighted by the National Commission of Women (NCW) in its Report of 1975.

All women’s organisations like the All India Mahila Dakshata Samiti, of which I am the general secretary, took up the issues seriously. As a result, a national movement for greater women empowerment began and we started to attract adherents.

Later the women’s group constituted a committee comprising stalwarts like Members of Parliament Geeta Mukherjee and Margaret Alva while representatives from the women’s movement like Sushila Gopalan and Promila Dandavate played a key role. We examined various commissions in the country. The National Commission of Scheduled Castes (NCSC) came closest to our mind. The main official who was anchor of that commission, was invited and started drafting a document as to what kind of commission we wanted, the mandate, rules and regulations.

After that, a Parliament Committee went around the country and collected information. Then finally under the leadership of Geeta Mukherjee, a proposal was formulated about the Commission.

The Commission Bill was about to be tabled. But this did not happen immediately. When Ramvilas Paswan became the Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, the Commission Bill was tabled by him in 1990. I clearly remember a week before it was tabled, Paswan hosted a dinner and invited Najma Heptullah, myself and other women’s group representatives. Next morning it was tabled and later passed.

Then arose the problem of drafting the rules. It never occurred to us that the bureaucracy will take charge once the bill was passed. When the rules were drafted, the status of the Commission was diluted in a serious way.
First came the quarrel between the Women and Child Welfare Department and the Commission. The Commission was given a status subordinate to the ministry. Instead of becoming an autonomous body, as was intended in the legislation, it became subservient to the Women and Child Welfare Department and therefore the government.

This was the first mistake and that is where the status of the Commission was lost. As a result, every appointment was done by the government. We had proposed an electoral college to select the Chairperson and members of the Commission from the women’s movement who had perspective as well as commitment. This did not happen. This was the second biggest mistake.

As a result, it became a patronage tool for the government of the day which appointed the Chairperson and members of the Commission. Resultantly, we have seen both good and bad commissions. The leadership has, sometimes, come from an unknown sector. By the time they familiarised themselves with women’s groups and issues, their tenure came to an end. Chairpersons failed to discover these crucial things. So that is how we have an inconsistent curve.

The status of NCW has been greatly downgraded. Its Chairperson is equivalent to a Union Secretary, Government of India, unlike the chairman of NCSC which has Cabinet minister status. She is supposed to be heard by every state government and responded to. That rarely happens.

Also, the budget for the Commission is abysmally low, unlike the NCSC. This Commission has neither the status and aura nor the budget to carry its mandate forward.

The role of NCW has been diluted consistently over the years. The Commission was to be consulted on every major policy issue of the government affecting women. But no one has chosen to consult it, whether it is the Planning Commission or the government. Slowly, they have become a recommendatory body on policy matters. Any institution can be brought down if the bureaucracy wants to control it. I am saying this because the judicial powers that were to be vested with the Commission were withdrawn without any explaination.

Did the Commission move ahead under some of its chairpersons? Name calling is not a good idea but it has to be said that I was always around to offer any help possible. For instance, when Purnima Advani became the Chairperson (not knowing the sector at all) she walked into my office and I helped with her with all the details, contact, issues and perspectives.

Of course Mohini Giri was very dynamic and pushed the Commission. Along with her, we undertook an all India yatra; we traveled from Delhi to Kanyakumari on the issue of Women’s Reservation Bill. She in fact proposed my name for contesting elections from a constituency in the national capital.

However, there are many things which have careened out of control. I would not take names. After all, if the government does not want these institutions to be effective, no one can really help. It only shows there is a lack of commitment and political will. A testimony to that is the way in which the Women’s Reservation Bill has been stalled for more than 16 years in the Parliament despite the fact that it has been passed by Rajya Sabha and is not being passed by the Lok Sabha.

Major issues including Sexual Harassment at Work Place Bill, Trafficking of Women and Children and eve teasing is taking years to be passed. We cannot blame the NCW alone. Professor Lotika Sarkar headed a committee that reviewed every single law affecting women. But nothing happened.

Let me bring your attention to another issue. Every year the Parliament discusses the Annual Report presented by the Commission. All that is done is to send the Report to the Women and Child Welfare ministry. All this shows a rather casual attitude towards the Commission.

Look at the way India is faltering on many crucial issues. Globally, we have the maximum number of women who die during childbirth; malnutrition is the highest among Indian girls and female infanticide still looms large as an area of concern. And now honour killing has been added to the list of dowry deaths. In that sense, everything is piling up while the political response and adequate budgets have not been forthcoming.

Women do not form the centre piece of government agenda. The story reflects itself in other commissions as well. Take for instance the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) which is yet to appoint a woman member. Isn’t human rights for women important? Even today SC and ST women are most exploited, oppressed and molested, raped, killed and their lands are being grabbed. Do we ever see a SC woman becoming a member in the National Scheduled Caste Commission?

Why does not the NCW take up these issues? They are well within their rights to do so. Till the status of the NCW remains as toothless as it is right now, nothing will change. To begin with, the NCW chairperson should be accorded the status of a Cabinet minister.

In this connection we have also met several Prime Ministers: late Inder Kumar Gujral, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh. We have appealed to them. The National Mission for Empowerment of Women is chaired by Prime Minister. The mission was the brainchild of former President Pratibha Sinh Patil. It would be interesting to know where it is currently located. It is located in the Women and Child Department, which is not a even full fledged department.

The National Mission should be a natural in the Prime Minister’s Office. It was supposed to look at the programmes and gender budget. As a member, I can say I don’t what is happening. We have got an extension for two years.

Whether it is NCW or the National Mission, unless there is a strong possibility of it being conferred genuine status and made politically important, things will stagnate where they are.

Are vested interests working against NCW or the National Mission who do not want women to be powerful? If they wanted they could have passed the Women’s Reservation Bill. This is not about politics alone. It speaks volumes about the actual status of women in our society -  notwithstanding all the crocodile tears that are shed every time an incident takes place.

The NCW has been packed either with political workers or women close to ruling parties. Has it not compromised the status of the Commission? Why is that competent persons and specialists are not taken on board? By becoming the member of the NCW you do not become sensitive or understand the agenda of women. Not every woman who becomes a NCW member has a women’s perspective. 

(In conversation with KS Narayanan)