Activists urge govt to release new State policy for women after fixing flaws, slam 2-yr delay

CHENNAI: Various stakeholders including women’s rights groups have urged the government to immediately release the final version of draft State New Policy for Women 2021, taking a strong exception to the 2-year delay.

The draft State New Policy for Women 2021-with all its flaws-not seeing the light of the day is hampering welfare measures set to benefit women, activists have lamented.

Sheelu Francis, president of Women’s collective recalled how the government had called for suggestions from various women’s groups and civil society organisations (CSO) regarding the draft policy, which was submitted to the state in January 2022. “The group also recommended expert consultation to further fine tune the draft to weed out flaws. Despite all the efforts, we did not hear from the government on the final release of the policy till date.”

Sheelu stressed on the importance of taking the draft further as she termed it ‘vague.’ The policy excludes women farmers and urban women belonging to economically weaker sectors which are grave omissions, she said. “The policy has no mention of many sections, especially women with disabilities. The goals of the policy is lost in verbiage as vague terms make it out of reach of non-experts. The common public would find it difficult to comprehend,” added Sheelu.

Women from various sectors-including researchers, journalists-are coming together to put pressure on government to release the policy at the earliest, fixing existing flaws. “We are going to to file a Right to Information (RTI) application and also petition the government,” said a city-based activist. They are hopeful that the government would heed to their request, at least because of upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

With the government maintaining a stony silence on the policy, the activitists and researchers demand immediate release of a status report and share the timeline for the release of the final document.

The women groups have urged the government to organise discussions, consultations with experts, academicians and others, to address the gaps and strengthen the final policy.

Activists have also demanded that the consultation committee should have adequate representation from civil society to track the progress and ensure a flawless final release of the policy.