Lok Sabha Question No. 1744 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-07-27
Subject: Women Empowerment
Ministry: MINORITY AFFAIRS
Asked by: AJAY NISHAD, NISHIKANT  DUBEY, RODMAL NAGAR

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1744

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 27.07.2016

## Women Empowerment

## 1744 . SHRI AJAY NISHAD: SHRI NISHIKANT DUBEY: SHRI NAGAR RODMAL :

Will the Minister of Minority Affairs be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware of the condition of minority women in the country and the problems generally encountered by them, especially in the rural areas;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  in  this regard;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  prepared/proposes  to  prepare  any  action plan  for  empowerment of women belonging to the minority communities and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government has received any recommendation to this affect from the National Commission for Women; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof and the action taken/proposed to be taken by the Government thereon?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) IN THE MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS (SHRI MUKHTAR ABBAS NAQVI)

- (a) to (c) Keeping in view the low level of literacy among minority women, their socio-economic  backwardness,  general  lack  of  awareness  about  Government programmes and social deprivation, Ministry of Minority Affairs implements an exclusive scheme 'Nai Roshni' for Leadership Development of Minority Women with  an  aim  to  empower  and  instill  confidence  in  women  by  providing knowledge,  tools  and  techniques  for  interacting  with  Government  systems, banks  and  intermediaries  at  all  levels.  The  scheme  is  implemented  through selected  Non-Governmental  Organizations  (NGOs)  all  over  the  country.The scheme provides one week training programmes followed by handholding for a period of one year. The training is provided on various pre-designed Training modules covering issues relating to women viz. Leadership of Women through

participation in decision making, Educational Programmes for women, Health and  Hygiene,  Legal  rights  of  women,  Financial  Literacy,  Digital  Literacy,

Swachch Bharat, Life Skills, and Advocacy for Social and Behavioural change. Moreover,  to  promote  education  including  higher  education,  Ministry  has earmarked minimum 30% seats for minority girls/women in its all educational schemes. For their economic empowerment, minimum 33% seats have been earmarked  in  all  Skill  development  schemes  of  the  Ministry.  Maulana  Azad Education  Foundation  (MAEF),  an  autonomous  body  under  the  Ministry, implements  an  exclusive  'Maulana  Azad  National  Scholarship  Scheme  for Meritorious  Girls'  for  scholarship  in  Class  XI  and  XII.  In  addition,  National Minorities  Development  &  Finance  Corporation  (NMDFC),  a  Central  Sector Public  Enterprise  under  the  Ministry,  implements  an  exclusive  scheme  for minority women called 'Mahila Samriddhi Yojana' for their economic empowerment, and also  gives  preference  to  women  in  its  lending  schemes, particularly Micro-Finance at concessional interest rates.

(d) and (e)As per information received from National Commission for Women, an Expert Committee was constituted in October,2013 on violence against women of minority communities and they have included their recommendation in their Annual Report, 2014-15. The general recommendations of the Committee are at Annexure. As  per  the  mandate  of  the  Ministry  of  Minority  Affairs,  minority women  are  already  being  sensitized  about  their  legal  rights,  health  and hygiene,  educational  programmes,  life  skills,  financial  literacy,  Social  and behavioural  change  etc.  under  Nai  Roshni  scheme.  Moreover,  Ministry  has earmarked minimum 30% seats for minority girls/women in all the educational schemes.  For  their  economic  empowerment,  minimum  33%  seats  have  been earmarked in all Skill development schemes of the Ministry. MAEF and NMDFC are taking up special programmes for minority girls/women for promoting their education and economic empowerment respectively.

*******

Annexure referred to in reply to part (d) and (e) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question  No.1744  to  be  answered  on  27.07.2016  regarding  'Women Empowerment' asked by Shri Ajay Nishad; Shri Nishikant Dubey and Shri Nagar Rodmal.

General  Recommendations  of  the  Expert  Committee  of  National  Commission  for Women on Violence against women of Minority Communities in India:

- I. India must declare 2015-2025 as decade for women.
- II. There  is  lack  of  data  regarding  various  aspects  concern  with  women  of minority communities, which put a big hurdle in the way of policy makers to initiate  effective  policies/  programmes/  schemes  etc.  for  them.  Thus,  the government  may  conduct  special  census  for  the  population  of  minority communities.
- III. Mechanisms  may  be  put  in  place  that  support  and  protect  those  who  are committed to eliminating violence against women.
- IV. There  is  a  need  to  promote  and  protect  the  human  rights  of  all  women, including their right to have control over their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence.
- V. Separate policy frameworks meant for development of all minority communities needs to be undertaken.
- VI. A committee or Commission to set-up along the lines of the Sachar Committee to report social, economic and educational status of each of the non-Muslim minorities  with  special  focus  on  the  issues  being  faced  by  women  of  these minority  communities,  viz-a-viz  social  exclusion,  discrimination  and  various forms of social violence.
- VII. Minority  organizations/NGOs/Institutions  working  for  the  minority  women  in various field needs to be encouraged and promoted.
- VIII. It  is  necessary  to  work  with  religious  leaders,  institutions  and  media  in promoting secular democracy and peace building.
- IX. The reproductive health rights of adolescent girls need to be addressed.
- X. Effective steps at all levels should be taken to get rid of illiteracy.
- XI. The government needs to intensify their efforts in the areas with concentration of  minority  population.  The  government  should  consider  relaxing  distance norm for location of secondary schools for girls in Minority dominated areas.
- XII. In order to increase women's participation in education patriarchal, hierarchical & authoritarian attitude which oppresses and exploits the female segment should be addressed.
- XIII. Under the scheme of 2500 Model Schools in PPP mode at least 10%, i.e., 250 schools should be reserved for religious minorities in proportion to the number of schools sanctioned in each State.
- XIV. The  access  of minority girls  and  women  students  in  higher  education institutions should be increased based on diversity index.
- XV. Coaching  academics  for  competitive  examinations  of  engineering,  medicine, civil  services  etc.  should  be  setup.  MHRD  may  announce  a  scheme  for providing residential coaching to women students of minority communities.
- XVI. There  should  be  specific  skill  development  activities/  training  for  women  for self-defence/protection.
- XVII. To empower the women, 33% reservation for women in Parliament/ States, is need of the hour.
- XVIII. More  awareness  and  training  programmes  should  be  organized  on  issues related  to  violence  against  women  and  their  rights,  so  that  women  from minority communities are aware of the provisions under law.
- XIX. Social networking  sites may  be  used  to  increase awareness  regarding minorities women rights, problems and solutions among educated women.
- XX. Community-level  initiatives  may  be  undertaken  to  prevent  violence  against women from minority communities.
- XXI. Increase  women's  participation  at  all  levels:  cultural,  social,  economic  and political needs to be encouraged and promoted.
- XXII. For  promoting  peace  and  social  harmony,  behavioural  change  campaigns should be organized to sensitize the community and various stake holders like Government, Civil Societies, Gram Panchayats, Schools etc, on the issues and concerns of minority groups especially women.
- XXIII. Small  facilitating  centers/drop-in  centers  should  be  developed  for  minority groups so that the centres would act as  a coordinating agency between the minority groups and the concerned departments.
- XXIV. A uniform civil code to ensure uniformity in the law to protect the rights of the minority groups particularly women should be enacted.
- XXV. Access to education at all  levels and delivery of quality education should be ensured.
- XXVI. Financial assistance and social security schemes should be launched for homebased women workers pertaining to minority groups.
- XXVII. Training,  marketing,  credit  support  to  be  made  available  for  self-employed women of minority community.
- XXVIII. Hold public officials accountable for not complying with laws and regulations relating to violence against women and girls, in order to prevent and respond to such violence in a gender-sensitive manner.
- XXIX. End impunity to avoid the abuse of power leading to violence against women and the re victimization of victims and survivors;
- XXX. Prevent, investigate and punish acts of violence against women and girls that are  perpetrated  by  the  people  in  positions  of  authority,  such  as  teachers, religious  leaders,  political  leaders  and  law  enforcement  officials,  in  order  to end impunity for these crimes;
- XXXI. A life-cycle  approach  to  end  discrimination  and  violence  against  women  and girls  should  be  adopted  to  ensure  specific  issues  affecting  older  women  are greater visibility and attention.
- XXXII. An organization which may be a confederation of all minorities including social and  educational  organizations  and  institutions  at  the  National  level  with branches at State, District and Village/ Town levels.
- XXXIII. The Government at the Centre and in the States should adopt a liberal policy in  sanctioning  grants  to  educational  institutions  and  industrial  units  to  the minority communities, with special emphasis on women.
- XXXIV. Interactive  meetings  should  be  held  with  the  presence  of  religious  and community leaders of the different religions so as to find ways and means of avoiding clashes based on religion and caste and coming up with a charter of demands based on the socio-economic status of oppressed and down-trodden minorities women communities.
- XXXV. The selection of the counsellors needs to be made carefully, with inputs from trained psychologists and psychiatrists. Appointees must include both men and women.
- XXXVI. A dedicated Counselling Helpline run by Counsellors trained to handle cases of gender based discrimination and violence.
- XXXVII. Activating and running an Emergency 24/7 helpline and Quick Response Team (QRT).  A  Quick  Response  Team  should  be  in  place  linked  to  the  24/7 Emergency  Help  Line,  which  can  immediately  respond  in  cases  of  any emergency to the victim of severe violence.
- XXXVIII. The number of women police and officers should be increased. They should be better  trained  and  equipped  to  deal  with  situations  related  to  crime  against women. May increase the representation of women from minority communities in the police force.
- XXXIX. Police  personnel  should  be  trained  through  regular  programmes  of  gender sensitization.
- XL. The government needs to expedite the proposed Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims)Bill, 2005 'with the incorporation  of:  sexual  and  gender-based  crimes,  including  mass  crimes against  women  perpetrated  during  communal  violence;  a  comprehensive system of reparations for victims of such crimes; and gender-sensitive victimcentred  procedural  and  evidentiary  rules,  and  to  ensure  that  inaction  or complicity of State officials in communal violence to urgently addressed under this legislation'.
- XLI. Government  needs  to  take  the  next  step  towards  comprehensive  reforms outlined in the Justice Verma Committee report, and amend the Armed Forces (Special  Powers)  Act,  1958  and  the  Representation  of  People  Act,  1951  to erase immunity and instill accountability across all institutions.
- XLII. Non-political, an independent, permanent and centralized institutional mechanism to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the schemes of the government  should  be  put  in  place,  to  access  whether  15%  target  for
43. minorities  is  being  identified  and  achieved,  both  in  physical  and  financial terms.  Especially  a  mechanism  should  be  place  which  can  tell  how  much women  from  minority  communities  benefitted  and  progressed,  from  the

various schemes/policies/programmes etc. XLIII. Reservation for minority's women at par with SCs/STs should be given. XLIV. A Parliamentary Committee for Minority Welfare, on lines for SC/ST Committee may be established. XLV.

- On the issues like adverse sex ratio, violence against women, violence under the garb of religious practices and codes, etc, studies should be undertaken.

******