Plan panel group for separate law to deal with honour killings
STAFF WRITER 2/6/2012 7:02:00 PM
New Delhi, Feb 6 (PTI) Concerned over growing violence against women, a Plan panel committee has suggested that the government should enact a separate law to deal with the menace of "honour killings" and amend other laws to empower women.
The Planning Commission Working Group on 'Women's Agency and Empowerment' for the 12th Plan has also suggested changes in family laws so that even the live-in couples can get equal rights to property.
Headed by Secretary in the Ministry of Women & Child Development, the Group also recommended modification in laws to deal with the menace of rape and dowry deaths, besides strengthening of maternity benefit schemes.
With regard to honour killings, the Group has recommended that a standalone law be enacted to punish those who harass and kill young couples.
It has also suggested that "safe homes should be provided where the couples can seek refuge...publically glorifying any harassment and killing in the name of honour or 'izzat' should be prohibited."
The Working Group has pitched for a comprehensive Right to Marital Property Act under which married couple or couple living together can enjoy equal rights.
The proposed law, the group said, should be applicable to all communities and "all the movable and immovable assets that a married couple or a couple living together have acquired, (be treated) as joint property, which can be divided at the time of separation/desertion, regardless of who has bought the property".
The recommendations of the Working Group will be taken on board by the Planning Commission while chalking out the strategy for the 12th Plan which begins from April 1, 2012.
The Working Group has recommended that the laws relating to rape and sexual assault be made more victim-sensitive and friendly.
The law, it added, should provide for immediate medical attention and counselling for victims of sexual abuse, particularly children, to deal with the trauma suffered by them.
In order to check the menace of dowry, the Group said that government should introduce "ceilings in terms of percentages of income on both gifts and marriage expenditure ... a limit should also be put on marriage expenditure in terms of food".
The Group has sought early enactment of the Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2010, with a view to providing a secure and enabling environment to women at work place.
With regard to maternity benefit, it has suggested that the Maternity Benefit Act 1961, should be amended to prevent employers from terminating services of pregnant employees to avoid payment of maternity benefits.
The Act could incorporate a clause that "no woman should be discharged from service during the period of pregnancy on any pretext".
It also underlined the need for setting up of a 24-hour helpline and crisis centres to provide shelter, legal and medical counselling services to victims of violence.
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No country for little girls
India’s infant mortality sex ratio is 97 (meaning 97 male infant deaths for every 100 female infant deaths), well below the developing world average (122), and lower than Sri Lanka (125) or Pakistan (120). Child mortality sex ratios are even worse, at 56 male child deaths for every 100 female child deaths; the developing world average is 111. More, this ratio has progressively worsened, indicating that the current government policy of targeting pre-natal sex determination tests is, at the very least, insufficient.
Sex selection has been identified as the major culprit skewing sex ratios in the country, and the government has sought to restrict access to enabling technology with the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, which bans the use of diagnostic techniques to determine the sex of a foetus. However, as the data on child mortality sex ratio indicates, this policy fails to address the deeper socio-cultural reasons for a family preferring male progeny. The government has attempted to combat the prejudices that lead to female child mortality by utilizing unobjectionable language (such as “beti bachao” and other variations thereof) and conditional cash transfer schemes that ignore the fact that sex ratios in affluent areas like south Delhi or Punjab are among the lowest in India.
India needs a comprehensive strategy to fight parental preference for sons, an attitudinal change not easily achieved if studies regarding sex selective abortions among Indian immigrants in Canada are any indication. Still, India can draw lessons from South Korea, which reversed its trend of rising sex ratios due to a reduction in son preference attributed in part to a breakdown of pre-industrial social structures due to policies adopted to facilitate economic growth.
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