Indian
Position on Bijing+10
Madam
Chairperson,
Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates,
My
delegation extends to you its warm felicitations on your election
as Chairperson of this significant session of the Commission on
the Status on Women. We are confident of the success of this
session under your guidance. I would like to assure you of my
delegation's full cooperation in the deliberations and the work of
this Commission.
We
thank the Secretary-General for his statement to the Commission
and for the detailed report under this agenda item.
We associate ourselves with the statement made by the
distinguished representative of Jamaica in her capacity as Chair
of the Group of 77.
Madam
Chair,
The
adoption. of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action at
the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 signified the
maturation of women's quest for dignity and equality that had
spanned all continents. Rights of women, empowerment of women,
gender equality, mainstreaming gender and elimination of
discrimination against women became the accepted norms by which
women's development was to be assessed in the future.
This
session of the Commission is of particular significance as we take
stock of the progress made in achieving the goals and commitments
undertaken and. obstacles and challenges encountered in the
implementation of the Beijing' Platform for Action, ten years
after its adoption.
The
Secretary-General's review of the implementation of the Beijing
Platform for Action and the outcome of the 23rd special session of
the General Assembly indicates an increased awareness of gender
equality among Governments and different parts of society. It
reports significant but uneven national achievements in relation
to the implementation of these outcomes.Increased participation of
women in the economy, progress in elimination of discrimination,
and achievements in women's health and education have been some
notable positive developments.
As
the first country to adopt the Beijing Declaration and Platform
for Action without reservations, India has been ful1y committed to
its implementation.
In
India, initiatives to address the situation of women were already
under way when the 4th World Conference was held. The National
Commission for Women had been set up by an Act of Parliament in
1990 to safeguard the rights and legal entitlements of women.
However, the most far-reaching and influential measures adopted in
India were the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution of
India in 1993 which provided for reservation for women of
one-third of all seats, including its Chairs, in the local village
and municipal bodies, laying a strong foundation for their
participation in decision making at the local levels. In a quiet
but powerful revolution, and in an exercise of not only their
political and civil rights, but also one that affects economic,
social and cultural rights, more than one million women now occupy
positions as members and chairpersons of local bodies. As a single
act of empowering women, this has no known parallel in history.
Education,
training and self-employment strategies are playing a crucial role
in the emancipation of women from traditional dependencies. Over
the past decade, women have become more vocal and assertive and
have now emerged as articulate, motivated leaders all over the
country. Sustained training and networking efforts are being
undertaken to ensure that capacity of the elected women
representatives to participate improves.
Another
development that merits special mention is the progress made in
the last few years to reduce the gender gap in enrolment and
retention at the school level. Through concerted efforts, female
literacy has grown significantly from 39.3 per cent in 1991 to
53.7 per cent in 200l_and the gender gap has narrowed from 25 per
cent to 21 per cent. The focus is now on improving women's
participation in higher education, technical education and
vocational courses.
Legal
protection through the progressive development and strengthening
of national laws, as also elimination of discrimination against
women through policy measures, such as the' National Policy for
Empowerment of Women adopted in 2001 as a follow-up action to the
commitments adopted in the Beijing Declaration and Plan of Action,
have been a vital part of India's efforts to combat practices
contrary to the human rights of women and to change social
attitudes on which discriminatory practices have been based. These
measures are sought to be strengthened further by the new
Government through its Common Minimum Programme which strives to
ensure the laws be made more women friendly and enhance the
economic empowerment of women through equal rights of ownership of
assets such as land/shelter, promotion of access by 'self-help'
groups to micro¬finance are important elements.
Madam
Chair,
The
real test of Government commitment is the allocation of financial
resources for programmes for women's empowerment. In India, in all
state governments and Central Ministries, earmarking of at least
30 percent of all non¬women specific developmental outlays
exclusively for women in a sub-Plan known as Women's Component
Plan, wherever such disaggregating is possible, has given a
tremendous fillip to gender main streaming initiatives.
Additionally, India has also initiated measures for Gender
Budgeting. Presenting the country's budget only two days ago, the
Finance Minister indicated that "this is another first in
budget-making in India in course of time; all Departments will be
required to present gender budgets...” This is an important
development for the 496 million women in India who represent 48.3
per cent of the country's total population.
India's
legislative framework is supported by an active and alert
judiciary which has infused dynamism into safeguarding and
upholding the constitutional and legal provisions, and has issued
directives to the State from time to time to further safeguard and
strengthen the rights of women. In addition, independent
institutions - the National Human Rights Commission and the
National Commission for Women - are actively engaged in protecting
the legal and constitutional safeguards provided for women.
We
in India are fortunate that in our democracy, a strong women's
movement and a widespread network of non-government organisations
which have robust grass-roots presence and deep insight into
women's concerns, have inspired many initiatives for the
empowerment of women and have been critical in the march towards
women's equality.
Madam
Chair,
Notwithstanding
the normative and legal advances over the last several decades,
the evolution of the issue of human rights of women, and the
incontestable social progress and economic advancement, the gap
between de jure and de facto equality continues to endure in much
of the world. This is as true for India as any other part of the
world.
The
World Bank, in a report entitled Engendering Development through
Gender Equality indicated that:
