SWAYAMSIDDHA FOR EMPOWERING INDIAN WOMEN Manisha Jain* The Government of India has been attempting to empower women through effective legislation and has formulated several schemes to endow them with the much-needed social and economic empowerment.
Swayamsiddha is one such scheme for empowering the Indian women both socially and economically to enable them live with dignity and self-reliance. The scheme lays stress on access to micro-credit and envisages block and panchayat-level participation among women, cutting across all regional, economic and social groups.
"Self-help" is the magic word here. The programme urges women to help themselves, literally. And in order to attain the goal, it sets in place a series of self-help groups and mechanisms designed to streamline and distribute the benefits of awareness and advocacy among women of all social strata and through diverse regions and states. February was observed as the month for the "Economic Empowerment of Women". This was when the Integrated Women’s Empowerment Programme (IWEP) or "Swayamsiddha" was also launched and a national-level seminar on property rights for women was organised during this phase. The pgrogramme assumes significance in the light of the fact that in recent years the empowerment of women has been recognised as the central issue in determining their status.
The principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Indian Constitution in its Preamble, Fundamental Duties and Directive Principles. The Constitution not only grants equality to women but also empowers the State to adopt measures against discrimination to them in any manner.
Swayamsiddha, as the name itself suggests, is aimed at making women self-reliant and giving them enough confidence to fend for themselves. Swayamsiddha will recast the Indira Mahila Yojana (IMY). IMY will be expanded from the existing 238 blocks to 650 blocks across the country by the end of the Ninth Plan (March 31, 2002).
The programme lays stress on enabling women to have a full understanding of social, economic and political issues. It will not only educate women on their status, rights and privileges but also generate awareness about women’s health, nutrition, education, sanitation and hygiene.
The programme wiill bring together groups of people with common goals and objectives. IWEP has a vision to develop empowered women who will be bold enough to demand their rights from family, community and government and those who have increased access and control over material, social and political resources.
It envisages enhanced awareness and improved skills for women with an accent on economic self-reliance. One of the principal aims of the IWEP is to improve women’s access to micro-credit and strengthening the savings habit among rural women. This will enable them to have control over their economic resources.
The programme aims at involving women in local-level planning and envisages the convergence of services of the Department of Women and Child Development and other departments. The programme will be extended over a period of four to five years at a cost of Rs. 116.30 crore. To ensure a smooth functioning of the programme, a project implementation cell will be set up having adequate expertise and flexibility.
Aimed at encouraging thrift among women through small savings, the scheme will, in effect, merge the Mahila Samriddhi Yojana (MSY) and the Indira Mahila Yojana (IMY).
IWEP will have the distinctive feature of having the association of government and panchayat officials/office-bearers as participants/facilitators. It will enlist the support of both government departments/agencies and NGOs and district and intermediary-level panchayat institutions.
IWEP will thus create an organisational base for women to come together, to analyse and fulfil their needs through existing programmes of the State and Central governments and to access institutional credit. The programme will facilitate them access to various schemes from a single window.
The State Governments will identify nodal departments for implementing IWEP which will in turn identify block-level implementing agencies called Project Implementation Agencies (PIAs).
Women need not run from pillar to post in search of information and aid as the scheme will ensure easy and instant redressal of problems. A subsidy-free approach to women’s empowerment will be inculcated.
Each self-help group will have about 15-20 members with one leader or key person. Homogeneous groups of women belonging to the same socio-eocnomic status will be formed, networking self-help groups (SHGs) with panchayat institutions and government functionaries.
Community-orientation, innovative interventions and creation of community assets will all form a vital part of the activities of the PIAs or the SHGs. These will in turn strengthen the process of group formation, mobilisation and stabilisation.
IWEP holds special significance in that it has been started during the Empowerment Year for Women and at a time when gender and women perspectives are being mainstreamed in all developmental processes. The Government has decided to establish policies, programmes and systems to ensure the mainstreaming of the gender perspective in the process of development. Wherever there are gaps in policies and programmes, women- specific interventions will be undertaken to bridge these. Coordinating and monitoring mechanisms will also be devised to assess the progress of such mainstreaming mechanisms from time to time. This also extends to the various programmes and schemes the Government has formulated for the welfare and empowerment of women. IWEP is also being constantly monitored and evolved and interventions being created based on feedback from various blocks and districts. The self-help groups will particularly reach out to destitute women, particularly those in extreme poverty, disadvantaged women, disabled widows, elderly women, single women in difficult circumstances and women in conflict situations.(PIB Features)
*Journalist
Nigeria: Woman Sentenced to Death Under Sharia
keralamonitor.com
New York, October , 2001 Human Rights Watch condemned a recent ruling by an Islamic court in Northern Nigeria that sentenced Safiya Hussaini Tungar-Tudu to death by stoning. The court issued the death sentence after finding her guilty of having pre-marital sex."Women have a basic right to control their sexual autonomy," said LaShawn R. Jefferson, executive director of the Women's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. "When a woman is punished so severely for having pre-marital sex, her right to make free decisions regarding her body is violated."
The Islamic court in Gwadabawa, Sokoto State, in northern Nigeria sentenced Ms. Tungar-Tudu to death after finding her guilty of having pre-marital sex, a punishable offense under Sharia law. Ms. Tungar-Tudu, who is pregnant, has until November 8 to file an appeal. The court's ruling is pending approval by the governor of Sokoto State after which a date to mete out the punishment will be fixed. The man she allegedly had sex with was set free by the same court after concluding that it lacked sufficient evidence to prosecute him for the alleged adultery.
Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances because of its inherent cruelty. Additionally, international law strictly prohibits the imposition of capital punishment on a pregnant woman.
In recent years, several states in Muslim-dominated northern Nigeria have extended the application of Sharia law to criminal offenses, imposing Sharia punishments for theft and other crimes, and criminalizing acts such as pre-marital sex and alcohol consumption.
Ms. Tungar-Tudu's conviction for pre-marital sex is the second one to be reported in northern Nigeria. In September 2000, an Islamic court in the northern state of Zamfara, sentenced Bariya Ibrahim Magazu, a teenage girl, to 180 lashes for pre-marital sex and bringing false charges against men with whom she allegedly had sex. Despite protests by international and Nigerian human rights groups against her sentence, officials authorized the flogging of Ms. Magazu. Even though her appeal remained pending, the sentence was carried out; she was lashed one hundred times on January 19, 2001.
In another case, a Sharia court found a sixteen-year-old boy guilty of stealing money. He was sentenced to the amputation of his hand. Amputation is an extreme form of corporal punishment, which is expressly prohibited by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Human Rights Watch wrote to the governor of Kebbi State on October 12, 2001, expressing its concern over the case.
Human Rights Watch called on the Nigerian government to protect Ms. Tungar-Tudu from the arbitrary meting out of a harsh and unacceptable punishment, and to ensure that the courts operate in accordance with international human rights law and the bill of rights in Nigeria's own constitution.
The Lata Mangeshkar presenting a memento to the Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the inauguration of the Dina Nath Mangeshkar Hospital and Research Centre (karve Road), in Pune (Maharashtra) on November 1, 2001.
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"Women have a basic right to control their sexual autonomy. When a woman is punished so severely for having pre-marital sex, her right to make free decisions regarding her body is violated."
LaShawn R. Jefferson, executive director of the Women's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch
November 02, 2001
Plea for Change of Society Mindset on General Issues
NEW BOOK ON JUSTICE ANAND’S JUDGEMENTS ON WOMEN
keralamonitor.com
The Indian Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Smt. Sushma Swaraj has said that though our Constitution gives equal rights to women, yet a lot requires to be done to change the attitudes and mindsets in the society to provide actual empowerment to women. In this regard, she said, the courts can play a great role as a catalyst to bring about a change in attitudes.
Smt. Swaraj was releasing a book titled ‘Justice for Women – concerns and Expressions’ here last evening. The book is a compilation by Ms. Manisha Gandhi, of some landmark judgements and speeches of the former Chief Justice of India, Dr. Justice A.S. Anand.
Smt. Swaraj said that though women account for 50 per cent of the world population yet they share only 10 per cent of income, and just one per cent of the property. She said, the book is a testimony that sensitive men like, Justice Anand not only understood women’s mind and difficulties but also offered solutions.
Quoting extensively from the book, Smt. Swaraj strongly endorsed Justice Anand’s view that crimes against women, like rape destroy the total personality of the victim and courts must ensure that trials of such crimes are not allowed to harass the victim. In camera trials should be the rule in such cases and open trial only an exception, she agreed.
Swaraj said that such books require mass circulation to spread awareness about gender issues in the society. The Chairperson of the National Commission for Women, Ms. Vibha Parthasarathi and Member, National Human Rights Commission, Ms. Justice Sujata Manohar also addressed the gathering which included several Judges of the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Delhi and members of the bar.
The Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting Smt. Sushma Swaraj releasing a book "justice for Women Concerns and Expressions " by fomer Chief Justice of India Dr. Justice A.S. Anand in New Delhi on Novmber 1, 2001.