Gender Equality End all forms of discrimination against

Gender Equality

• End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere INDICATOR 1. Sex Ratio at Birth 2. Average female to male ratio of average wages/salaries received per day by regular wage/salaried employees of age 15 -59 years For Rural and urban

Sex Ratio at Birth and Real Per Capita Income (1970 and 2014): International Comparison SKEWED SEX RATIO AT BIRTH (SRB)

• India’s sex ratio during this period increased substantially even without the one-child policy from 1060 to 1108 whereas if development acted as an antidote, it should have led to improvements in the sex ratio

Sex Ratio (0 -6 years) and Real Per Capita Income For Indian States

1990 • Noting the skewed ratio of females to males, estimated that nearly 100 million women were missing in the world (almost 40 million in India alone). • A large part of this is driven by a combination of sex-selective abortion as well as neglect of the girl child after birth.

2014 calculation • The stock of missing women as of 2014 was nearly 63 million and more than 2 million women go missing across age groups every year (either due to sex selective abortion, disease, neglect, or inadequate nutrition).

India after outlawing sex selection (via the implementation of Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act, 1994) saw a stabilization of its sex ratio at birth albeit at an elevated level

SON “META” PREFERENCE:

• Parents may choose to keep having children until they get the desired number of sons. This is called son “meta” preference. • A son “meta” preference – even though it does not lead to sex-selective abortion – may nevertheless be detrimental to female children because it may lead to fewer resources devoted to them

sex ratio of the last child (SRLC)

Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres including Traficking and Sexual and other types of Exploitation Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018. Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012, the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2013 and the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 Amendment in The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015

Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 Vs Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POSCO)2012

What is POSCO Act ?

• POCSO is a specialized law to address sexual violence against all children and was enacted in 2012 after extensive deliberations among multiple stakeholders

What are the Motivating Factors to bring ? 1. existing framework of laws, criminal procedures, infrastructure and support systems were not conducive for child victims to pursue justice For example, POCSO provides for the reverse burden of proof

• Another critical element of the POCSO Act – ensuring a speedy trial for child victims For Example : POCSO provisions mandate that the entire evidence must be recorded within 30 days of the Special Court taking cognizance of the offence trial should be completed within one year of the Special Court taking cognizance of the offence

POSCO ACT Challenges : lack of appropriately trained judges and prosecutors, non-compliance with victim friendly procedures, unavailability of specialized personnel provided in the legislation to assist victims and so on low percentage of convictions (29. 6%) and a pendency of 89% in POCSO cases across the country

Argument - very little to do with harsher punishments Since there can be no question of determining punishment without first getting a conviction in the case

Criminal law amendment act 2013 Justice Verma Committee An Act further to amend the Indian Penal Code, Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. Punishments for rape in the IPC including the death penalty for rape that results in death or a permanent vegetative state and also for the repeat offence of rape.

• An Act further to amend the Indian Penal Code, Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.

Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance 2018

• Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 investigation into the rape of a child must be completed within three months. • The Ordinance reduces this time period to two months for all rape cases. • The Ordinance bars anticipatory bail in cases of rape of minor girls below 16 years of age. Further, any appeal against a sentence for rape cases must be disposed of within six months.

Introduction of the death penalty

• criminal justice system inflict such punishment only after providing fair trial rights to the accused to the fullest extent possible • Death penalty - mandatory confirmation in the High Court • appeal to the Supreme Court followed by a mandatory open court review, curative petition, clemency petition to the Governor/President and then a right to challenge the rejection of the clemency application

• Subjecting child victims to this long process would only exacerbate their suffering • judge-centric nature of death penalty sentencing

It brings us back to a fundamental question – should we approach child rape from the perspective of inflicting the harshest punishment for the perpetrator or are we more concerned about the rehabilitation needs of the victim

Death Penalty India Report 2016 By project 39 A

• The POCSO Act has the same penalty for rape when the victim is a boy or a girl. However, the IPC provisions which apply only to rape of female victims carry a higher punishment. • The Ordinance further widens this difference

Recent current affairs The government on Friday approved amendments to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, to bring punishments for sexual assaults on boys on a par with those against girls

Centrally Sponsored /Central Sector Schemes (CSS)

Ministry of Women and Child Development 1. Mission for Protection and Empowerment of Women • Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, • Pradhan Mantri Mahila Shakti Kendra (PMMSK), • Ujjawala, • One Stop Centre, Women Helpline, hostels, • SWADHAR Greh, • gender budgeting etc.

2. Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) 3. Umbrella ICDS 4. Support to Training and Employment Programme (STEP)

Ministry of Human Resources and Development National Scheme for Incentive to Girl Child for Secondary Education (NSIGSE) PRAGATI (Providing Assistance for Girls’ Advancement in Technical Education Initiative)

One Stop Centre

The Scheme of One Stop Centre was approved for implementation from 1 st April, 2015. The scheme aims to facilitate access to an integrated range of services including medical aid, police assistance, legal aid/case management, psychosocial counselling, and temporary support services to women affected by violence

• In the first phase, one Centre was sanctioned per State/UT. Further, 150 additional Centres were taken up in second phase during 2016 -17. Thus a total of 186 OSCs have been sanctioned so far and 166 of the same are operational as on 12. 2017

• The OSC, Mahila Shakti Kendra (MSK), Women Helpline, etc. , are to be co-located as far as possible to enable coordination, convergence and cost efficiency • This scheme is implemented with 100% Central assistance.

Pradhan Mantri Mahila Shakti Kendra (PMMSK),

• The Scheme will provide an interface for rural women to approach the government for availing their entitlements and for empowering them through awareness generation, training and capacity building. • Student volunteers will encourage the spirit of voluntary community service and gender equality. These student volunteers will serve as "agents of change" and have a lasting impact on their communities and the nation

components • National level: Domain based experts will provide support in implementation of all women centric schemes/programmes of the Government • State level: At the state level, the State Resource Centre for Women (SRCW) under the State Governments (Department of WCD/Social Welfare) will provide technical assistance towards implementing programmes, laws and schemes meant for women through effective coordination at the State/UT level

District level: A new component namely District Level Centre for Women (DLCW) has been envisaged which will collate information on government programmes, schemes and services meant for women empowerment (including BBBP, One Stop Centre, Women Helpline, Mahila Police Volunteers, Swadhar, Ujjawala, etc. ) to cover 640 districts and will serve as a link between village/block and state level

• The block level initiative is meant to promote community participation through involvement of Student Volunteers for empowering rural women and NSS/NCC cadre students can also be associated • Block Level initiative will cover 115 most backward blocks (as identified by NITI Aayog).

FUNDING RATIO: MSK will be implemented with a cost sharing pattern between the Central Government and the States as 60: 40, except in respect of North Eastern and Special Category States where the cost sharing ratio shall be 90: 10

Nation Nutrition Mission POSHAN ABHIYAN – PM’s Overarching Scheme For Holistic Nourishment

• Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses, or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients. The term malnutrition addresses 3 broad groups of conditions:

undernutrition, which includes wasting (low weightfor-height), stunting (low height-for-age) and underweight (low weight-for-age); micronutrient-related malnutrition, which includes micronutrient deficiencies (a lack of important vitamins and minerals) or micronutrient excess; and overweight, obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases (such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some cancers).

despite the progress made, India remains a negative outlier—children are on average 2 standard deviations shorter than the healthy average

height-cognitive development gradient

Maternal Health • A child’s first 1000 days on earth are thought to be a “critical period” of physical and cognitive development with long-run consequences • A child’s life chances during this period are ultimately dependent on his or her mother

Different Indicators The various measures of mortality published under SRS are Crude Death Rate (CDR), Under-five Mortality Rate (U 5 MR), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and its components, Age Specific Mortality Rates (ASMR), Still Birth Rate (SBR) and Peri-Natal Mortality Rate (PMR).

• India has a high neonatal mortality rate. Out of all the infants who die in India, 70 per cent die in the first month

National Nutrition Mission The goals of NNM are to achieve improvement in nutritional status of Children from 0 -6 years, Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers in a time bound manner during the next three years beginning 201718 with fixed targets as under:

Institution Mechanism • National Council on India’s Nutritional Challenges under the Chairmanship of Vice. Chairman NITI Aayog. • The Mission is to submit report to the Prime Minister every six months

National Council Terms of Reference Policy Direction Review Effective Coordination and Convergence between Ministers Which have a sectoral responsibility For the Challenges of Nutrition

Executive Committee of National nutritional Council (Will Meet Every Three months )

Maternal health Policy

Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana National Food Security Act 2013 Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana

Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana • The Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY) is a maternity benefit program run by the Government of India (53 districts). • It was introduced in 2010 and is implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD). • It is a conditional cash transfer scheme (4000) for pregnant and lactating mothers of 19 years of age or above for the first two live births

It provides partial wage compensation to women for wage-loss during the childbirth and childcare, and aims to promote conditions for safe delivery, good nutrition, and feeding practices.

National Food Security Act • Section 4 (b) of the National Food Security Act, which came into force on September 10, 2013, states that every pregnant and lactating mother would be entitled to “maternity benefit of not less than Rupees six thousand

Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana Providing partial compensation for the wage loss in terms of cash incentives so that the loss woman can take adequate rest before and after delivery of the first living child. The cash incentive provided would lead to improved health seeking behaviour amongst the Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers (PW&LM)

Target beneficiaries All Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers, excluding PW&LM who are in regular employment with the Central Government or the State Governments or PSUs or those who are in receipt of similar benefits under any law for the time being in force

• All eligible Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers who have their pregnancy on or after 01. 2017 for first child in family. • The date and stage of pregnancy for a beneficiary would be counted with respect to her LMP date as mentioned in the MCP card (Mother Child protection Card )

Case of Miscarriage/Still Birth: (i) A beneficiary is eligible to receive benefits under the scheme only once. (ii) In case of miscarriage/still birth, the beneficiary would be eligible to claim the remaining instalment(s) in event of any future pregnancy

• Case of Infant Mortality: A beneficiary is eligible to receive benefits under the scheme only once. • That is, in case of infant mortality, she will not be eligible for claiming benefits under the scheme, if she has already received all the instalments of the maternity benefit under PMMVY earlier.

Conditional Cash Transfer

• If we take 26 weeks of 6 days a week in the Maternity Benefit Act and a wage of Rs 175 per day, which is close to the current National Rural Employment Guarantee Act wage rate in many states as the benchmark, then we arrive at an amount of Rs 27, 300 as full wage compensation, which is more than four times what is being promised