Lok Sabha Question No. 1113 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-08
Subject: Gender Representation
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Satyadev Pachauri, Raksha Nikhil Khadse, Sanghamitra Maurya, Durga Das Uikey, Keshari Devi Patel, Manoj Kishorbhai Kotak, Prathap Simha

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1113 TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.12.2023

## GENDER REPRESENTATION

1113.   SHRI SATYADEV PACHAURI: SHRIMATI RAKSHA NIKHIL KHADSE: DR. SANGHMITRA MAURYA: SHRI DURGA DAS (D.D.) UIKEY: SHRIMATI KESHARI DEVI PATEL: SHRI MANOJ KOTAK: SHRI PRATHAP SIMHA:

Will the Minister of Women and Child Development be pleased to state:

- (a) whether India has emerged as a global leader in gender representation;
- (b) if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) the specific strategies that have been employed by the Government, aviation industry and society to foster female participation in various professions?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI )

(a) to (c):  Gender justice is an important commitment of the Government as enshrined in the Constitution of India. In order to promote a gender just society and increased representation of women in various domains, several steps have been taken by the Government over the years. These include enactment of criminal laws and special laws like 'the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005', 'the Dowry Prohibition  Act,  1961',  'the  Prohibition  of  Child  Marriage  Act,  2006';  'the  Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986'; 'the Sexual Harassment of Women (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013', 'the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956', 'the Commission of Sati Prevention Act, 1987', 'the Protection of Children from  Sexual  Offenses  Act,  2012',  'the  Juvenile  Justice  (Care  and  Protection  of Children)  Act,  2015,  minimum  1/3rd  reservations  for  women  in  Panchayati  Raj Institutions  (PRIs),  reservation  for  women  in  central/  state  police  forces,  enabling provisions for induction of women in National Defence Academy (NDA) and Sainik Schools, Commando Forces etc.

Besides,  the  Government  gives  utmost  priority  to  the  safety,  security  and empowerment of women across the country. The Government has adopted multipronged approach to address the issue of women on a life-cycle continuum basis for their educational, social, economic and political empowerment so that they become equal partners in fast paced and sustainable national development.

In  the  past  few  years,  a  number  of  initiatives  have  been  taken  for  holistic development and empowerment of women in the country.

The  initiatives  like  Samagra  Shiksha,  Scholarship  schemes,  Babu  Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojna, Swacch Vidyalaya Mission, etc. ensure that schools are girlfriendly especially for vulnerable sections of society and have adequate facilities in place to fulfil their special requirements.

Department  of  Higher  Education,  Ministry  of  Education  is  administering 'National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology' (NMEICT) Scheme, SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds),  SWAYAM  PRABHA,  National  Digital  Library  (NDL),  Virtual  Lab,  e-Yantra, NEAT (National Education Alliance for Technology) etc. to ensure quality education through e-learning to students across the country. Under the Pradhan Mantri Vidya Lakshmi  Karyakram,  Vidya  Lakshmi  Portal  (VLP)  has  been  launched  by  the Government  to  ensure  that  students  avail  education  loans  easily  through  single window system of banks. All Public Sector Banks (PSBs) have been on-boarded on the Portal.

Multiple  initiatives  in  the  past  years  for  increasing  participation  of  women  in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) have been undertaken. Vigyan Jyoti was launched in 2020 to balance low representation of girls in different streams  of  Science  and  Technology  from  9th  to  12th  standards.  The  Overseas Fellowship  Scheme  started  in  2017-18,  provides  opportunities  to  Indian  Women Scientist and Technologists to undertake international collaborative research in STEM. Several women scientists have played significant roles in India's maiden Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM),  or  Mangalyaan, including building and testing the scientific instruments at the Space Application Centre.

The  Government  of  India  has  launched  the  'Pradhan  Mantri  Gramin  Digital Saksharta Abhiyan' (PMGDISHA) to usher in digital literacy in rural India by covering 6 Crore rural households (one person per household). The Scheme aims to bridge the digital divide, specifically targeting the rural population including marginalized sections of  society  like  SC/ST,  minorities,  persons  falling  below  poverty  line,  women  and differently abled.

Under  'Swachchh  Bharat Mission'  construction  of  over  11.60  crore  toilets, under 'Ujjawala Yojana' clean cooking gas connections  to 9.85 crore women below poverty line and under 'Jal Jeevan Mission' connecting over 13.75 crores out of 19.24 crores rural household with tap drinking water connections have transformed the lives of women by reducing the drudgery and care burden.

Further, 'Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendras' are established so as to reduce out of pocket expenses in healthcare. The objective is to bring down the healthcare budget of every citizen of India through providing Quality generic Medicines at Affordable Prices. Over 10,000 Kendras are functional across the country. In 2017, the  Maternity  Benefit  Act  was  amended  to  increase  paid  maternity  leave  from  12 weeks to 26 weeks for the first two children.

In order to enhance the employability of female workers, the Government is providing training to them through a network of Women Industrial Training institutes, National Vocational Training Institutes and Regional Vocational Training Institutes. A number of enabling provisions have been incorporated in Labour Codes viz. the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Occupational Safety, Health and  Working  Conditions  Code,  2020  and  the  Code  on  Social  Security,  2020  for creating  congenial  work  environment  for  women  workers.  The  Mahatma  Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA) mandates that at least one third of the jobs generated under the scheme (MGNREGS) should be given to women.

To ensure economic independence of women through skill development and vocational training, the Government has introduced Skill India Mission. The National Skill Development Policy focuses on inclusive skill development, with the objective of increased women participation for better economic productivity.

Government has also set up the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana across the country. Emphasis has been laid on creating  additional  infrastructure  both  for  training  and  apprenticeship  for  women; flexible training delivery mechanisms such as mobile training units, flexible afternoon batches  along  with  on  local  need-based  training  to  accommodate  women;  and ensuring  safe  and  gender  sensitive  training  environment,  employment  of  women trainers, equity in remuneration, and complaint redressal mechanism.

India is promoting greater roles for girls in the armed forces. Government has also made enabling provisions for allowing women's participation in non-conventional sectors such as fighter pilots in Indian Air Force, Commandos, Central Police Forces, admissions in Sainik Schools, entry of Girls in NDA etc. The Government has taken multiple initiatives to increase female participation in the civil aviation sector with the creation of women aviation professionals through a special focus on young schoolgirls, especially from low-income families. Today, the country has 10% more women pilots than  the  global  average.  According  to  the  International  Society  of  Women  Airline

Pilots, globally around 5 per cent of pilots are women. In India, the share of women pilots is significantly higher.

There are schemes like Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana and Stand-Up India, Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) have been launched for helping women set up their own enterprises. To economically empower women, 81% of loans ranging from rupees ten lakh to rupees one crore under 'Stand-Up India' have been made available to women by the Government.

Under one of the largest financial inclusion programmes in the world, PM Jan Dhan Yojana has benefited more than 28 crore women, mostly in rural areas to open their  own  bank  accounts.  For  securing  the  future  of  the  girl  child,  the  government launched a savings scheme called 'Sukanya Samriddhi Account' etc.

With  special  attention  towards  entrepreneurship,  Government  of  India  has played a key role in the facilitation and disbursement of a large number of loans to small  women-led  enterprises  ensuring  that  women  become  a  vital  force  in  the country's burgeoning start-up ecosystem supported under the Start-up India.

The  Government  of  India  implements  various  schemes  /  programmes  for welfare  of  women/  girls  in  which  community  participation  plays  an  important  role. Under  Deendayal  Antyodaya  Yojana  -  National  Rural  Livelihoods  Mission  (DAYNRLM), nearly 9.93 crore women are connected with around 90 lakh women's selfhelp  groups  that  are  transforming  rural  socio-economic  landscape  in  several innovative and socially and ecologically responsible ways, also availing governmental support including bank linkage of about Rs. 7.67 lakh Crores till date.

National Agriculture Market or e-NAM, an online trading platform for agricultural commodities is helping women overcome or compensate the barriers they face in accessing markets. National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) is playing a significant role to uplift women cooperatives as large number of women are engaged and involved in cooperatives dealing with activities related to food grain processing, plantation  crops,  oilseeds  processing,  fisheries,  dairy  &  livestock,  spinning  mills, handloom and power loom weaving, Integrated Cooperative Development Projects, etc.

Most of the nearly  3.25  crore  houses  sanctioned  under  the  Pradhan  Mantri Awaas Yojana are either in the name of women or in the joint name. All this has increased the participation of women in financial decision making.

The  Anganwadi  Services  under  Mission  Poshan  2.0  is  a  universal  scheme under  which  pregnant  women  and  lactating  mothers  are  eligible  for  the  services including the Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP). For partial compensation of wages  and  for  promoting  health  seeking  behavior  among  pregnant  women  and lactating  mothers,  Government  has  implemented  Pradhan  Mantri  Matru  Vandana

Yojana (PMMVY) which aims to promote appropriate practice, care and institutional service utilization  during  pregnancy,  delivery  and  lactation  by  providing  cash incentives in Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode to pregnant and lactating mothers. Benefits have been extended to around 3.21 crore women through this scheme.

Through  the  73rd  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  1/3rd  seats  in  the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) have been reserved for women. However, there are more  than  14.50  lakh  Elected  Women  Representatives  (EWRs)  in  PRIs,  which  is approximately 46% of the total elected representatives. The Government is providing training to the EWRs from time to time to build on their capacity.

The  greatest  leap  forward  for  women  empowerment  and  representation  of women  in  the  highest  political  offices  in  the  country  has  been  the  notification  by Government of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 (Constitution One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023 on 28 September, 2023, for reservation of one-third of seats for women in the House of People (Lok Sabha) and in the State Legislative Assemblies including Legislative Assembly of NCT of Delhi.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development implements 'Mission Shakti', an Integrated Women Empowerment Programme, as Umbrella Scheme for the Safety, Security and Empowerment of Women. The 'Mission Shakti' has two sub-schemes namely "Sambal" for safety and security of women and "Samarthya" for empowerment of  women.  Under  'Samarthya'  sub-  scheme,  a  new  component  i.e.  Hub  for Empowerment of Women (HEW) has been included with the aim to facilitate intersectoral  convergence of  schemes and programs meant for women at the Central, State/ UT and District levels for creating an environment in which women are able to realize their full potential. The support under the HEW provides for guiding, linking and hand  holding  women  to  various  institutional  and  schematic  set  ups  for  their empowerment and development including access to healthcare,  quality  education, career  and  vocational  counselling/  training,  financial  inclusion,  entrepreneurship, backward and forward linkages, health and safety for workers, social security  and digital literacy at districts/ Blocks/ Gram Panchayats level across the country.

Further, based on requirements and feedback from stake holders, government takes appropriate measures to formulate policies/ programmes/ schemes as well as carry out modifications/ amendments, wherever required.

*****