The National Commission for Women (NCW) has asked the Centre and the states to table reports on issues concerning women in Parliament and state assemblies to ensure that the recommendations made by women are given due importance.
Speaking at a meeting of the State Women's Commissions here on Monday, NCW chairperson Girija Vyas said she was disappointed that the recommendations of the women's panel were not given the desired importance. She had written to ministers concerned as well as Speakers of assemblies and Parliament that the recommendations of the commissions be tabled in the Houses.
“We are also talking to the Parliamentary committee for women on this issue,” Ms. Vyas told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting.
She pointed out that of the 21 reports submitted by the Commission during her tenure, only eight had been tabled in Parliament.
The former NCW chairperson, Mohini Giri, suggested that members of the women's commission be selected on the lines of the National Human Rights Commission, in order to make it more apolitical.
In her address, Minister of State for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath asked the State Women's Commissions to rise above their political affiliations.
The NCW chairperson also said committees should be formed at all levels for better coordination among the NCW, NGOs, and women's organisations. Ms. Vyas also favoured cooperation among SAARC countries to deal with incidents of trafficking.
Representatives of women's panels from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh were conspicuously absent at the meeting. These are the States where ‘unlawful' diktats of ‘khap' panchayats and incidents of female foeticide are high.
While Rajasthan reported 14,494 incidents of crimes against women in 2008, the figures for Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana were 23,569; 2,627 and 5,142.
In 2009, Haryana registered 10 attempt to rape cases, 199 domestic violence cases, 269 dowry death cases and 593 rape cases; Madhya Pradesh 125 attempt to rape cases, 333 domestic violence cases, 136 rape cases and 102 dowry death cases; and Punjab 62 attempt to rape cases, 128 dowry death cases and 1,155 dowry harassment cases.
