Page 24 - NIS English January 16-31

Cover story Women Empowerment

Addressing the serious issue of trafficking
among women and children, the Anti-Trafficking
Law was passed by Parliament. It ensures that Safety ensured by
the different forms of trafficking are tracked and new laws
speedy justice is delivered. It lists out various
forms of trafficking like forced labour, prostitution,
Death penalty for rape of a girl
sexual exploitation, forced marriage, etc. and
child younger than 12 years. The
lists punishments for them. law has provisions to complete
Educated Woman: Basis of a strong society hearing of rape cases in two
When you educate a woman, you educate a months
family. Taking cognizance of this axiom the Practice of instant triple talaq
Government stepped in this direction and was stopped by making legal
studied in depth the problem of girls dropping provisions against it. Compulsion
out from schools. It was found that hurdles such of Mehram (male guardianship)
as lack of proper toilets and the unfair notion that for Muslim women observing Haj
girls are an economic burden contributed to the was discontinued
dropping out of the girls from schools. Hence, To identify people involved in the
the Prime Minister announced Swachh Bharat crime against women, a National
Data Base is prepared. Over
Mission during his address from the Red Fort. It
1,023 fast track courts are being
has led to the construction of 4.17 Lakh toilets
set up across the country to hear
for girls in schools and 10.29 Crore toilets in
such cases
rural India. This has reduced the dropout rate.
A women help desk has been
The percentage of girls enrolled in schools is
started in every police station
94.23 while the percentage of boys is 89.28. of the country. Over 700 One
Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana and various other Stop Centres have been started
scholarship schemes have helped in ridding the across the country. Important
unfair notion that girls are an economic burden. changes are made in the laws for
In the field of technical education also, girls working women
are coming forward and admission to ITI has
doubled as compared to 2014. Figures by World The 'Nari' portal for women was
Bank show that in 2011, around 59 per cent launched by the Center and State
(above 15 years) of girls were educated, which Governments with the aim of making
rose to 66 per cent in 2018. more than 350 schemes accessible
Campaign for Women’s Dignity at one place
Construction of toilets in every household is
not just about cleanliness but it is also a major
campaign to uphold women’s dignity. Today
over 6 Lakh villages are open defecation free
wife and husband. The Government passed the
(ODF). Dignity is not just delivered through
law banning the archaic practice of instant Triple
toilets; ownership of houses empowers women
Talaq and ensuring that Muslim women can live
in the society. With the focus on ownership of
with dignity. Draconian, discriminatory provisions
women under the PM Awas Yojana, ownership
of the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir that
of more than 38 Lakh houses was sanctioned
prohibited right to transfer property to children
exclusively to women in rural India, while
in case a woman marries a non-Kashmiri and
another 55.7 Lakh saw joint ownership between
22 New India Samachar