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National Commission for Women goes headless at a critical time

With the government not yet announcing a successor to National Commission for Women chairperson Mohini Giri who retired yesterday, the statutory body mandated to protect women's interests has become headless at a time when crucial measures like the Women's Reservation Bill are hanging fire and need active championing.

The NCW, which was constituted in 1992 after a protracted struggle by the women's movement, has become an important forum for women to voice their grievances and aspirations.

The Commission has also been in the forefront of the campaign to mobilise support for the Constitution Amendment Bill reserving 33 per cent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies.

For the Commission to be rendered headless at this moment, it shows the government does not accord much importance to women's concerns, say activists.

''Women seem to be the last priority for the decision makers. While lip service is paid to their welfare, little is actually done. Keeping vital posts vacant in a body like the NCW shows that the government is not only ignoring women's status, but purposely ridiculing it,'' says Dr Ranjana Kumari of Mahila Dakshita Samiti.

The activist, who was part of the core committee which presented the draft of the NCW Act to the government in 1990, also pointed out that for the past year, two of the six members' posts at the Commission have been lying vacant.

Similarly, the Central Social Welfare Board had been without a chief for some time. The National Human Rights Commission also did not have any women members except the NCW chairperson, who is an ex-officio member, she said.

''While women form 50 per cent of the country's population, their concerns can be ignored at will because the predominantly patriarchal set-up takes women for granted and knows that they will deliver at any cost.

''It is time for women to flex their muscles,'' she added.

Women's groups had been in touch with representatives of the government like Union Minister Sushma Swaraj and Samata Party leader Jaya Jaitley about appointments to the NCW, but there was no response, Dr Ranjana Kumari said.

Stressing the need for the Commission to be headed by a strong, apolitical, committed and concerned individual, activists Vasudha Dagambar and Maya Daruwala said the women's movement had for long been demanding that activist groups be involved in the process of selections to the NCW.

The names should be thrown up by the women's movement and concerned citizens and after going through a filtering process, a final decision should be taken. ''Inexperienced, political nominees will do more harm than good to the cause,'' they added.

The activists noted that in the absence of a chairperson, the work of the Commission would be in the charge of the member-secretary who, being a bureaucrat, can never impart the Commission with the kind of dynamism that it requires.

In fact, it was also a long-standing demand of the women's groups that the member-secretary should be a representative of the women's groups, said Dr Ranjana Kumari.

It was ironical that women's groups, which had fought for the constitution of the Commission, had not found any representation in the Commission in the past, she added.

UNI

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