The Telangana government will launch a massive publicity and awareness campaign soon on the appointment of Gram Panchayat secretaries as Marriage Officers for the compulsory registration of marriages in villages.
The government, as recommended by the Poonam Malakondaiah led committee on issues relating to the safety and security of women and girls in Telangana, issued orders on Wednesday appointing Panchayat secretaries as Marriage Officers to provide easy accessibility for couples and also to facilitate the registration of their marriages in the Panchayat within one month of the marriage.
The government also appointed the District Collector as District Registrar of Marriages of the district concerned and Commissioner as Marriage Officer in Municipal Corporation/municipalities and Nagar Panchayats and at the State level, Commissioner and Inspector General of Registrar and Stamps as Registrar General of Marriages.
The committee, in its report, noted that several women subjected to cheating and domestic violence were unable to get justice in the absence of proof of marriage and recommended that the registration of marriage be made mandatory by appointing Marriage Officers from the village Panchayat to the State level.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will review the implementation of recommendations given by the committee with principal secretaries and Ministers of nine departments such as Medical and Health, Transport, Labour, Education here on January 3.
One of the first recommendations of the committee to be implemented was providing partition in city buses for the convenience of women passengers. Of 2,400 city buses, partition/sliding doors were provided in 2,200 buses with the exception of Volvo and A/C buses where seats were limited, thus preventing overcrowding.
The government also gave a green signal to promote She Taxis soon. A pilot programme was taken up in one of the local colleges to provide training to girls in Judo and Karate (Rani Rudrama Devi teams) as a form of self-defence in the event of eve-teasing to escape and lodge a complaint at the nearest police station. The programme will be extended to all the colleges.
Next, it will be focusing on prevention of sexual harassment of women at the workplace. The committee recommended appointing an independent agency as the complaints and implementation committee for conducting an impartial inquiry within an organisation.
