Indian Development And Public Policy- Part-b By Tarun Das

COUNTRY REPORT ON INDIA: PART-B ADDRESSING GENDER INEQUALITY TO PROMOTE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT For THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SURVEY OF ASIA AND THE PACIFIC 2007 ______________________________________________________________________

Dr. Tarun Das*, Professor (Public Policy) Institute for Integrated Learning in Management Lodhi Institutional Area, New Delhi-110003.

15 October 2006 ______________________________________________________________________ * The paper expresses personal views of the author and should not be attributed to the views of the organizations he is associated with. The author would like to express his gratitude to the Poverty and Development Division, UN-ESCAP, Bangkok for providing an opportunity to prepare this paper. ** For any clarification and additional information, EMAIL [email protected]/ [email protected]/ [email protected]

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COUNTRY REPORT ON INDIA: PART-B ADDRESSING GENDER INEQUALITY TO PROMOTE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Professor Tarun Das, IILM, New Delhi-110003.

CONTENTS 1. Introduction (a) Human Development Index and Gender Development Index (b) Demographic situation 2. Trends and current status of gender inequality (a) (b) (c) (d)

Gender disparity in primary, secondary and higher education Access to health services for women Access to employment to women Unemployment situation for women

3. Causes and consequences of gender inequality (a)Cultural factors (b) Social factors for negligence of women (c)Economic reasons and justification 4. Government policies to ensure gender equality (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)

Education Health Employment of women Quality of life for women Women’s participation in decision making Mainstreaming gender into country development agenda

ANNEX TABLE-1: Selected gender related indicators

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COUNTRY REPORT ON INDIA: PART-B ADDRESSING GENDER INEQUALITY TO PROMOTE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Professor Tarun Das, IILM, New Delhi-110003. 1. Introduction (a) Human Development Index and Gender Development index Indian constitution not only grants equality of rights to women but also empowers the state to adopt policies and measures of positive discrimination in favour of women for neutralizing the cumulative socio-economic-political and educational disadvantages faced by them. Fundamental rights ensure equality in voting, equal protection by law; equal rights to an adequate means of livelihood, equal opportunities in education and employment and prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. To uphold the Constitution mandate, Government has enacted various legislative measures to ensure equal rights for women and to protect them from economic, social and political discrimination and against any form of violence, atrocities and crimes. Although all laws are not gender specific, the provisions have been reviewed and necessary amendments have been done to safeguard women rights and interests to keep pace with the emerging economic and social changes and globalisation of the economy. Development and utilization of human resources and the improvement in the overall quality of life of the people- for both men and women- are central to the Indian development plans over the years. If all people are healthy, educated and adequately skilled, they can participate fully and contribute more to economic development process. Over the years, India has made substantial progress in human development. Sustained and high economic growth in the post reform period reduced the poverty ratio significantly. There was also noteworthy improvement in the literacy rates over time leading to a decline in the absolute number of illiterates. However, there are disparities of human development indicators among men and women. There is widespread illiteracy and under-nutrition among women and children, and maternal and child health still remain areas of concern. UNDP’s global Human Development Report (HDR) for 2005 ranks India at 127 out of 177 countries of the world in terms of a composite Human Development Index (HDI) during 2003. Table1.1 provides India’s relative position in terms of the Human and Gender Development Index (GDI) for the years 2000 and 2003. While the absolute values of HDI and GDI consistently improved for India, its ranking in HDI has declined, although its ranking in GDI has improved among 127 nations in 2003. However, some of the Indian neighboring countries not only improved their HDI and GDI values but also improved their relative ranks. 3

Table 1.1: India’s ranking in human and gender development Country

Norway Australia Sri Lanka China Indonesia India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Mozambique Niger

Human development index (HDI) 2000 2003 0.942 0.963 0.939 0.955 0.741 0 751 0.726 0.755 0.684 0.697 0.577 0.602 0.499 0.527 0.478 0.520 0.490 0.526 0.322 0.379 0.277 0.281

HDI Rank 2000 1 5 89 96 110 124 138 145 142 170 172

2003 1 3 93 85 110 127 135 139 136 168 177

Gender Development Index (GDI) 2000 2003 0.941 0.960 0.956 0.954 0.737 0.747 0.699 0.754 0.678 0.691 0.560 0.586 0.468 0.508 0.468 0.514 0.470 0.511 0.307 0.365 0.263 0.271

GDI Rank 2000 3 1 70 77 91 105 120 121 119 144 146

2003 1 2 66 64 87 98 107 105 106 133 140

Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2002 and 2005.

(b) Demographic Situation India is one of the few countries where males significantly outnumber females and this imbalance has widened over the years. As per the latest 2001 Population Census, out of total population of 1029 million, males constitute 52 percent and the females 48 percent. All India sex ratio (number of females per 1000 males) improved marginally from 927 in 1991 to 933 in 2001 (comprising rural sex ratio at 946 and urban sex ratio at 901). The mortality rate among females across all ages at 8.1 is lower than that for males at 8.9. The female mortality rate in the age group of 0-4 years is 20.6. The mean age of marriage for the females was 19.8 years, and the median age at the first and second birth was 19.2 and 20.1 years respectively. 2. Trends and current status of gender inequality Despite significant progress in various human development indicators, such as life expectancy, literacy, school enrollment and medical care, India lags far behind those of most East Asian countries. Still more than 35 of the adult population are illiterate. Wide gender disparities also exist in India with regard to economic, health and educational attainment. More than 40 percent of India’s illiterates are girls or women. The incidence of infant mortality and child malnutrition is more pervasive for females; however, female life expectancy at birth has improved during the last decade and now exceeds male life expectancy.

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Female unemployment rates are generally higher than male unemployment rates though differences narrowed down over time and were nearly eliminated in rural areas in 1999-2000. Female unemployment rate in urban areas at 9.8 percent was more than the male unemployment rate at 7.2 percent underlying the need to create employment opportunities for females in urban areas. (a) Gender disparity in primary, secondary and higher education Indian constitution guarantees free primary school education to both boys and girls up to age 14. This goal has been reconfirmed by the government many times, but has not been achieved until now. Females continue to lag behind males in education. Census 2001 indicates that female literacy is only 54 percent compared to 76 percent for males. The adult literacy rate for females (aged 15 years or more) was 48 percent. However, there are wide disparities of education among states. For example, 87 percent of females in Mizoram were literate, while only 33 percent of women in Bihar can read and write. Indices pertaining to Elementary Education showed considerable improvement. Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), which indicates the number of children actually enrolled in elementary schools as a proportion of child population in the 6-14 years age group, increased progressively from 32 in 1950 to 85 in 2004. Rate of increase in GER of girls was higher than that of boys, indicating a decrease in gender gap in enrolment. Female enrolment was 87 percent in primary schools and 28 percent in high schools. In 2002 in university education, female to male students ratio of stood at 78 percent in arts stream, 64 percent in science, 63 percent in commerce, 33 percent in engineering and technical education and 68 percent in medicine. The female to male teachers ratio stood at 59 in primary schools and 54 in higher secondary schools. Drop out rates are very high for both male and female students. Dropout rates for girl students were 40 percent in primary schools (class I-V), 57 percent in elementary classes (class I-VIII) and 69 per cent for secondary schools (class I-X). Reasons for not attending schools or dropouts in both rural and urban areas include high education cost, no interest in education, no necessity for education and engagement for household works. Secondary & Higher Education The Secondary Education sector prepares students in the age group of 14-18 years for entry into higher education and employment. There has been an impressive growth in the area of higher education with an increase in student enrolment from 7.26 million in 199798 to 9.95 million in 2003-04. Enrolment of women students rose from 2.45 million in 1997-98 to 4.03 million in 2004-05, constituting 40.22 percent of the total enrolment. As per NSSO survey (55th Round 1999-00), there were inequalities in enrolment in higher education across various social groups in rural and urban areas, and also in terms of Gender. Females belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes living in rural areas are the most disadvantaged.

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(b) Access to health services for women Majority of women go through life in a state of nutritional stress and become anaemic and malnourished. 52 percent of females in all age groups, 56 percent females in the age group of 15-19 years, 54 percent in rural areas and 56 percent of the illiterate females were anaemic in 1999. Even, 55 percent of the employed women were anaemic. Poverty, early marriage, ill health and lack of proper vitamins and minerals and health care during pregnancy are the major reasons for both maternal and infant mortality rates. The average Indian women gets married at the age of 19 years, gives birth to the first child at the age of 22 years, and has no control over her fertility and reproduction health. Lack of adequate health facilities and antenatal services in rural areas force the families to use unhygienic and near fatal methods of childbirth. 51 percent of child deliveries in the rural sector are conduced at home by untrained village midwives. (c) Access to employment to women Gender disparities in employment, available from the latest NSSO (National Sample Survey Organisation) 60th round on employment and unemployment situation conducted during January-June 2004, are summarized below: (i)

The workforce participation rate or worker participation rate i.e. persons employed per 100 persons in labour force (WPR) for males were almost the same in both rural and urban areas, while WPR for rural females were distinctly higher than those for urban females (Table-1.2).

(ii)

The incidence of child labour, in spite of an ongoing campaign to abolish child labour completely, is significant in particularly rural areas. About 4 percent of male and female children in the age bracket of 5-14 years in rural areas pursued some jobs to earn their livelihoods. The position was much lower around 1 percent in the case of urban female children.

(iii)

During 2004, more than half of the usually employed in rural India were selfemployed (57 percent among males and 62 percent among females), compared to 45 percent in urban India (44 percent of males and 45 percent of females). Proportion of regular employees for females was lower than males in both urban and rural areas. On the other hand, proportion of casual labour was more among female workers than that among male workers, particularly in urban areas (Tables 1.3-A and 1.3-B).

(iv)

For rural males, proportion of self-employed had gradually fallen from 61 percent in 1983 to 54 percent in 2004. For females, the proportion declined from 62 percent in 1983 to 53 percent in 1998 but then climbed to 62 percent in 2004. There was a corresponding increase in the proportion of male casual labour over 6

the period. The proportion of regular employees among urban males declined by 3 percentage points, while for urban females, the proportion increased by 8 to 10 percentage points (Tables 1.3-A and 1.3-B). (v)

In rural India, among all usually employed, about 66 percent of the males and 84 percent of the females are engaged in the agriculture sector. Compared to this, the proportion of males engaged in the agricultural activities was 78 percent in 1983, 75 percent in 1987-88, 74 percent in 1993-94 and 71 percent in 19992000. At these points of time, the proportion of female workers engaged in agricultural activities were 88, 85, 86 and 85 respectively- showing an overall declining trend in the share of employment in agriculture. On the contrary, over these years, in rural India, there has been a gradual increase in the proportion of males engaged in secondary and tertiary sectors (Tables 1.4-A and 1.4-B). Table-1.2 Worker Participation Rates (in percent)

Round/ Year

R-50 1993-94 R-55 1999-00 R-69 2004

Rural

Urban

Male Usual Current status status

Female Usual Current status status

Male Usual Current status status

Female Usual Current status status

55.3

50.4

32.8

21.9

52.1

49.6

15.5

12.0

53.1

47.8

29.9

20.4

51.8

49.0

13.9

11.1

54.2

47.1

31.5

19.0

54.0

50.4

15.0

11.8

Source: NSSO Employment-Unemployment Survey (60 Round) 2004.

Table-1.3-A Distribution of Usually Employed in Rural India (percent) Males Females

Round/ Year

R-50 1993-94 R-55 1999-00 R-69 2004

Self employed

Regular/ salaried

Casual labour

Total

Self employed

Regular/ salaried

Casual labour

Total

57.7

8.5

33.8

100

58.6

2.7

38.7

100

55.0

8.8

36.2

100

57.3

3.1

39.6

100

57.2

9.3

33.5

100

61.5

3.8

34.7

100

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Table-1.3-B Distribution of Usually Employed in Urban India (percent) Males Females

R-50 1993-94 R-55 1999-00 R-69 2004

Self employed

Regular/ salaried

Casual labour

Total

Self employed

Regular/ salaried

Casual labour

Total

41.7

42.0

16.3

100

45.8

28.4

25.8

100

41.5

41.7

16.8

100

45.3

33.3

21.4

100

44.1

40.6

15.3

100

44.6

36.2

19

100

Table-1.4-A Distribution of Usually Employed by Industry Groups- Rural India (Percent) Round/ Males Females Year

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

Total

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

Total

R-50 1993-94 R-55 1999-00 R-69 2004

74.1

11.2

14.7

100

86.2

8.3

5.5

100

71.4

12.6

16.0

100

85.4

8.9

5.7

100

65.9

16.0

18.1

100

84.1

9.4

6.5

100

Table-1.4-B Distribution of Usually Employed by Industry Groups- Urban India (percent) Round/ Year R-50 1993-94 R-55 1999-00 R-69 2004

Males

Females

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

Total

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

Total

9.0

32.9

58.1

100

24.7

29.1

46.2

100

6.6

32.8

60.6

100

17.7

29.4

52.9

100

6.3

34.7

59.0

100

16.1

20.9

53.0

100

(e) Unemployment situation for women

There are mainly two basic concepts of unemployment viz. Usual Status (reference period of 365 days) and Current Status (reference period of 7 days). As per both concepts, unemployment rates differ widely for rural and urban areas and for males and females. Analysis of the results of the last full-fledged National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) Survey in the 60th Round (first half of 2004) indicates the following general observations: (i) Urban unemployment rates are higher than rural rates for both males and females. However, rural-urban differentials of unemployment rates narrowed over the years.

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(ii) (iii)

Under usual status, rural unemployment rates are not very high. As regards gender, females have higher unemployment rates than males in urban areas, but the rates are roughly equal for males and females in rural areas. (iv) There was an increasing trend of unemployment rates over the years. (v) Unemployment rates for current status were much higher than those for usual status implying a high degree of intermittent unemployment. This is mainly due to the absence of regular employment for many workers. (vi) In terms of current status, the unemployment rate is found to be higher in 2004 by about 2 percentage points in both rural and urban areas than that in 1999-2000, except for urban males. (vii) Unemployment rates varied sharply across the states and inter-state variations were consistent over time. States where wages are kept higher than neighboring regions by strengthening bargaining power of labor or by provision of social security have generally high incidence of unemployment. Table 1.5 Unemployment Rates (in percent) Round/ Year

R-50 1993-94 R-55 1999-00 R-69 2004

Rural Male Female Usual Current Usual Current status status status status 1.4 5.6 0.8 5.6

Urban Male Female Usual Current Usual Current status status status status 4.0 6.7 6.2 10.5

1.7

7.2

1.0

7.0

4.5

7.3

5.7

9.4

1.8

9.0

1.3

9.3

4.0

8.1

6.7

11.7

Source: NSSO Employment-Unemployment Survey (60 Round) 2004.

4. Causes and consequences of gender inequality (i)

Cultural factors

As per Indian cultures and traditions, women are considered to be weak in physical strength and protection, and best suitable for taking care of household cores, child and old age care. Tribal people and some religious groups discourage education and employment of women in order to perpetuate male domination in families. Even some educated husbands dislike their spouses to take up employment, as it is considered to be an act of a liberated and progressive woman, and the treatment of female workers in many offices is not fair and ethical. (ii)

Social factors for negligence of women

Social restrictions on women’s mobility contribute to lesser healthcare and education for women and children. About 75 percent of married women need permission from the elders to visit even friends and close relatives, and 40 percent donot have access to

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money. This is partly due to social values and partly to lack of proper protection and safety for women. Although the attitudes are changing, there is general perception that females are best suited for household works and childcare. The generally poorer health of women is caused by dual work burdens in production and reproduction tasks and skewed pattern of intra-household food allocation in favour of male members. Regional variations are also observed in gender disparities correlated to poverty incidence. There are social obstacles in women’s participation in mainstream activities. As per data for 2003 given by the Ministry of Home Affairs, among the crimes committed against women, torture has the highest share (36 percent) followed by molestation (23 percent), kidnapping and abduction (18 percent), rapes (11 percent), eve-teasing (7 percent), dowry death (5 percent) and immoral traffic (4 percent). (iii)

Economic reasons and justification

Women’s contribution to GDP and overall economic development is undervalued as most of the works performed by women are neither accounted for nor properly valued in national income accounts due to lack of reliable data and proper methodology. A Time Use Survey conducted in six selected states in 1999 indicates that women spend about 2.1 hours per day on cooking, 1.1 hours on cleaning the households and utensils, and 0.5 ours for childcare. Men’s participation in these works is nominal. Rather they spend more time than women on personal hygiene, entertainment, smoking, drinking, physical exercise and reading newspapers and magazines. Women constitute 90 percent of the total marginal workers in India. Women work longer hours than males and carry the major share of household and community works that are mostly unpaid and invisible. There are far fewer females in paid works than males. There are more unemployed women than men. Women are generally paid lower wages than males for the same type of works. It is estimated that women’ wage rate on an average is only 75 percent of their male counterparts and constitute only 25 percent of family income. Women mostly work in informal sectors which donot fall within the purview of minimum wages acts. Within organizations, women generally hold lower paid jobs. Women workers are also engaged in piecework and subcontracting at exploitative wage rates. Because of lower levels of education and relative immobility by women workers, in rural commercial banks only 2 percent female employees are officers, 7 percent are clerks and 6 percent are subordinates. These figures are 5, 16 and 10 percent respectively in semiurban commercial banks, and 11, 27 and 10 respectively in urban commercial banks. Females account for 26 percent of bank accounts, 21 percent of bank deposits, 17 percent of life insurance policyholders and 16 percent of policy insured.

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3. Government policies to ensure gender equality As mentioned earlier, Indian constitution not only grants equality of rights to women but

also empowers the state to adopt policies and measures of positive discrimination in favour of women for neutralizing the cumulative socio-economic-political and educational disadvantages faced by them. To uphold the Constitution mandate, Government has enacted various legislative measures to ensure equal rights for women and to protect them from economic, social and political discrimination and against any form of violence, atrocities and crimes in the emerging economic and social changes and globalisation of the economy. In January 1992, the Government set up a statutory body named National Commission for Women to study and monitor all matters relating to constitutional and legal safeguards provided to protect women interests, rights and privileges, review the existing laws and suggest appropriate amendments. The Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD) in the Ministry of Human Resources Development has prepared a “National Policy for the Empowerment of Women” in 2001 to enhance advancement, development and empowerment of women. Empowerment of Women The Mid Term Review of the Tenth Plan has identified areas of concern such as adverse child sex ratio, high infant and maternal mortality, wide gender gaps in literacy and wage rates, escalating violence against women, child trafficking, etc, and has recommended for universalizing programs like the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), expanding crèches, evaluation of existing programs, strengthening the delivery mechanism and assessing the gender impact of all programs. Planning, policies, programs and schemes of the DWCD are being specially formulated to ensure that these objectives in terms of social and economic empowerment of women and gender justice reach the targeted groups. (i)

Education

Elementary Education Resources for Elementary Education have been augmented through imposition of the Education Cess @ 2 percent on all direct and indirect Central taxes since 2004 to provide universal and quality basic education to all boys and girls. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) The main vehicle at present for providing elementary education to all children is a comprehensive programme called Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), - Universal Education Campaign (SSA), which was launched in 2001-02. The programme is implemented in partnership with the states. The ggoals of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) include the following: 11

(i)

To admit all Children in the age group of 6-14 years in school, Education Guarantee Centre, Alternate ‘School, Block-to-School’ camp by 2005. (ii) To bridge all gender and social category gaps at primary stage by 2007 and at elementary education level by 2010. (iii) To ensure universal retention by 2010. (iv) To focus on elementary education of satisfactory quality with emphasis on education for life. National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL) NPEGEL is an important component of SSA, which provides additional support for girls’ education in educationally backward blocks by way of girl-child friendly school, stationery, uniforms etc., for elementary education of under privileged girls. The scheme is implemented in Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs) where the level of female literacy is below, and the gender gap is above, the national average, and has at least 5 percent SC/ ST population and where SC/ST female literacy is below 10 percent, and also in select urban slums. Education Guarantee Scheme and Alternative/ Innovative Education (EGS & AIE) Another important component of SSA is the EGS & AIE, which is specially designed to provide, to children in school-less habitations and out-of-school children, access to elementary education. The scheme supports flexible strategies for out-of-school children through bridge courses, residential camps, drop-in centres, summer camps, remedial coaching, etc. Mid-Day Meal Scheme The Centrally-sponsored Mid-Day Meal Scheme provides cooked meal to children studying in Classes-I to V in Govt., Govt.-aided, Local Body and Education Guarantee Scheme/Alternative Innovative Education (EGS/AIE) Centres. The programme now covers nearly 120 million children studying in about 0.9 million schools and EGS/AIE Centres. This is the world’s largest school feeding programme involving preparation of a hot meal everyday. Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) The KGBV Scheme was launched in August, 2004, to set up 750 residential schools at elementary level for girls belonging predominantly to the SC, ST, OBC and minorities, in Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs), where female literacy is below the national average and gender gap in literacy is more than national average.

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Adult Education Literacy rates in India have risen from only 18.3 percent in 1951, to 64.8 percent in 2001. However, India continues to lag behind several other developing countries in the region such as China (86 percent) and Sri Lanka (92 percent). The National Literacy Mission (NLM) was launched on May 5, 1988 as a Technology Mission to impart functional literacy to non-literates in the country in the age group of 15-35 years in a time bound manner. The Mission objective is to attain a sustainable threshold literacy rate of 75 percent by 2007. NLM has accorded high priority for the promotion of female literacy. According to 2001 Census, 47 districts in the country have female literacy rate below 30 percent. Most of these districts are concentrated in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa. Special innovative projects have been taken up to raise the level of female literacy in these areas. Special efforts have been made to target female Panchayati Raj functionaries and make them literate. Secondary & Higher Education A Constitution Amendment Bill has been passed by Parliament in December, 2005, which enables the State to make special provisions, by law, for admission of students belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and socially and educationally backward classes to educational institutions, including aided and unaided private educational institutions, except minority institutions referred to in Article 30(1) of the Constitution. This would facilitate educational advancement of the above disadvantaged groups. (ii)

Health

One of the largest child intervention programs in the world is the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) initiated in 1975 with a package of 6 basic services for children up to 6 years and pregnant and nursing mothers. These services are health, checkups, immunization, referral services, supplementary feeding, pre school education and health and nutrition education through a single window delivery system. Measures to uplift health and nutrition standards of women, under the ICDS, include health check up for pregnant women and new mothers, immunization, pre and postnatal care and supplementary nutrition. Under the ‘Nutrition Programme for Adolescent Girls’ (NPAG), a special attention is being given to nutrition requirements of adolescent girls (who are potential mothers). The DWCD has been operating the NPAG as a pilot project in 51 districts with the ultimate objective of universalizing the scheme. A National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has been launched on 12th April 2005 for a period of 7 years (2005-2012). The programme intends to improve the performance of the Family Welfare programme in reducing maternal and infant morbidity and mortality and unwanted pregnancies, leading to stabilization of population growth.

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Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), a safe motherhood intervention, is an integrated package of services and cash benefit. It has been launched all over India on 12th April 2005. The main objectives are to reduce maternal and infant mortality by promoting institutional delivery and making available quality care in pregnancy, delivery and post delivery by linking delivery care to ante-natal check-up and neo-natal care along with appropriate referral and transport assistance, in the BPL groups. The Mother NGO (MNGO) programme of the Department of Family Welfare continued to be implemented in all the States. MNGOs receive grant-in-aid from Government of India through States and provide funds to ground level NGOs called Field NGOs (FNGOs) for nurturing the capacity building at the ground levels; building strong institutional capacity at the State, district, field levels; generating advocacy and awareness among all stakeholders of local health care and family welfare. Currently, 215 MNGOs are working covering 324 districts of the country. Under the Immunization programme, vaccines are given to infants and pregnant women for controlling vaccine preventable diseases, namely childhood Tuberculosis (BCG), Diphtheria, Pertussis, and Neonatal Tetanus (DPT), Measles and Poliomyelitis (OPV). Significant achievement has been made under this programme. India has made remarkable progress in controlling the spread of wild polio virus in the country as only 63 polio cases have been reported in the country. In order to achieve zero transmission in 2006, India has to continue our efforts for 100 percent vaccination of children up to 5 years of age in Supplementary Immunization Rounds. (iii)

Employment of women

Economic empowerment of women cannot happen unless they are provided with adequate income generating activities, through wage and self-employment. A number of schemes such Swyamsiddha, Swa-Shakti, Swawlamban and STEP are in progress where women mobilized as viable Self Help Groups (SHG) are utilizing micro credit with the help of agencies like the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh for income generating activities or getting trained in various traditional trades and crafts (Such as poultry, bee keeping weaving) as well as newly emerging vocations (such as the IT sector), skill up gradation, capacity building etc. To facilitate the employment of women away from their homes/towns, schemes such as Working Women Hostels with day care centers and Creches/ day centers are also being implemented. Care and protection of women in distress is a focused area for attention in this sector. (iv)

Quality of life for women

Special schemes such as the Balika Samriddhi Yojana (BSY) and Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY) are being implemented for improving the life cycle approach of the girl child. The BSY initiated in 1997-98 provides for cash deposit in an interest bearing account which will pay for the girl child’ education and subsequently reverts to her on attaining the age of 18 years. The scheme is in process of being transferred to the States.

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Kishori Shakti Yojana is a special intervention for the adolescent girls (11-18 years) using the ICDS infrastructure providing for an all round development including nutrition, literacy, vocational skills etc. KSY was implemented in only 2000 blocks up to 2004-05. From 2005-06, the scheme is being expanded to remaining blocks of the country. The scheme of Creches and Day-Care Centres for Children of Working and Ailing Mothers is being implemented by the Central Social Welfare Board and two other national level voluntary organizations namely Indian Council for Child Welfare and the Bhartiya Adimjati Sevak Sangh. (v)

Women’s participation in decision making

The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments Acts passed in 1992 by the Parliament ensure one-third of the total seats in all elected offices in local bodies whether in urban areas or rural areas. The ministry of Rural Development is operating various programs to bring women into mainstream and to encourage their participation in the development process. These programs have separate components for women participation. Major programs include the Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana (SGRY- the Complete Village Employment Program), the Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (the Commemorative Self Employment Program), the Indira Awas Yojana (the Indira Housing Scheme), Central Rural Sanitation Program and the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Program. During 2003, 446 million mandays were generated under SGRY-Phase-I out of which 27 percent were female beneficiaries, and 410 million mandays were generated under SGRY-PhaseII out of which 26 percent were female beneficiaries. Legal Safeguards The National Commission for Women (NCW) safeguards the interests of women with a mandate covering almost all aspects of women’s development. There are about 42 Central Acts concerning women of which 32 Acts have been reviewed by the NCW for their efficiency and removing gender discriminatory provisions. In addition, the DWCD is also in the process of initiating new legislation amending existing ones so that they become more potent in protecting women. These include Protection of women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 that became an Act on 14 September 2005. The Act seeks to provide immediate and emergent relief to women who face situations of violence in their homes. Protection Against Sexual Harassment of Women Bill, 2005 seeking to confer on women the right to be protected from sexual harassment is being drafted.

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(vi)

Mainstreaming gender into country development agenda

Gender Budgeting The Tenth Plan reinforced the commitment to gender budgeting to establish its genderdifferential impact and to translate gender commitments into budgetary commitments not only for conventional sectors such as education, health or employment but also for all the Departments. At present Gender budget cells have been set up in 35 Departments of the Government of India. Annex Table-1: Selected Gender Specific Indicators in 1990-2002 Items 1. Population* (million) --- Females --- Males 2. Rural population (million) --- Females --- Males 3. Urban population (million) --- Females --- Males 4. Females/Male ratio* (%) --- Rural --- Urban 5.Literacy rate --- Females --- Males 6. Adult Literacy rate --- Females --- Males

1991 846 407 439 628 304 324 218 103 115 927 938 894 52 39 64 48 34 62

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2001 1029 497 532 743 361 382 286 136 151 933 946 901 65 54 78 61 48 74

7. % of people by education levels in all population (a) Illiterate --- Females --- Males (b) Primary --- Females --- Males (c) Middle --- Females --- Males (d) Matriculate --- Females --- Males (e) Higher secondary --- Females --- Males (f) Non-technical diploma --- Females --- Males (g) Technical diploma --- Females --- Males (h) Graduate and above --- Females --- Males (I) Total --- Females --- Males

17

1991

2001

68 47

55 37

11 14

13 16

7 11

7 11

4 8

6 10

1 3

3 5

0.1 0.03

0.1 0.05

0.11 0.4

0.15 0.55

1.44 3.4

2.44 4.8

100 100

100 100

8. Mortality rates --- Females --- Males 9. Mean age at marriage (years) --- Females --- Males 10.Infant mortality rates --- Females --- Males 11.Expectation of life at birth (yrs) --- Females --- Males 12. Maternal mortality rate (Per 100,000 live births) 13.share of women in poverty alleviation programs 14. Literacy rate

18

1990

2000

2001

9.6 9.7

8.1 8.9

19.5 NA 80 81 78 60 60 59

19.8 NA 68 69 67 62 62.5 61 407

25

27

27

32

43

33

66 68 64