Valedictory speech of Minister of State, Ministry of Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath at Eastern Regional conference at Bhubneswar on February 29, 2012
1. It gives me great pleasure to address this esteemed gathering of academicians, civil society activists, and representatives of the state and central government from the governments of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. It was heartening to know about quality of research and groundwork that was put in by the participants of different thematic sessions for the last two days, covering all the critical dimensions of women’s well being. The recommendations that have come out of this conference will help us in working out joint strategies towards empowering the women of India through collective efforts.
2. Through the National Mission for Empowerment of Women or ‘Mission Poorna Shakti’, as we call it in Hindi, we have been trying to look at solutions to the many-fold problems which women in different regions of our vast country face..
3. I understand that many state governments have also taken concrete steps in mitigating problems like malnutrition, trafficking, women with disability, AIDS etc. I am pleased to know that a lot of focus has been given to women SHGs in the states of Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha as instruments to promote holistic women empowerment. It is encouraging to know that about 5 lakh Women SHGs have been formed through Mission Shakti in Odisha involving 52,80,000 women of the state who are federated at Gram Panchayat, Block and district levels. It is heartening to note that the others States of the also vigorously involved in communitising various social sector schemes of the government.
4. As a nation, we are committed to make women full partners in the development process in all its aspects. However, despite affirmative actions taken by the Government of India and various State Governments, indices depicting the status of women show that much more needs to be done. We are still way behind in achieving many of the MDG targets. It is a matter of concern that malnutrition continues to be unacceptably high despite a number of schemes, and programmes being in place for long. Declining child sex ratio is a grave matter of concern. To improve our adverse development indicators, we have to improve the status of women in the society, augment her education and vocational skill levels and income earning capacity, improve her health and nutrition status, so that we can address the inter-generational cycle of malnutrition and poverty. It has been realized that one of the necessary tools to achieve the desired outcomes is to develop effective mechanisms for convergence on systemic issues and forge convergence in flagship programmes of the Government as has been emphasized in the 12th Five Year Plan approach paper. Implementing the 73rd /74th Constitutional Amendment Acts can be the most effective tool to achieve convergence for women empowerment. There is a need to simultaneously build the capacity of our women PRI representatives so that they can participate more effectively and be the agents of social change.
5. GOI impetus on inclusive growth has ensured substantial allocation for several programmes aimed at providing basic services and also building rural and urban infrastructure and with the objective of increasing inclusiveness and reducing poverty. However, the challenge confronting all of us, is, - how to ensure that these programmes deliver the desired outcomes. The solution lies in better implementation through flexibility in the design of the schemes to reflect the ground realities across States, promoting innovation in delivery, and ensuring ownership of local government institutions.
6. It was with this idea, that the National Mission for Empowerment of Women was conceptualised, at the behest of Honourable President, Shrimati Pratibha Patil and inaugurated by her on 8th March, 2010. The Mission is an initiative to take a holistic focus on the various issues faced by women across the country and create innovative convergence models that facilitate coordination and collaboration between various government departments, horizontally as well as vertically.
7. What the Mission aims to do is to provide a common platform to facilitate convergence of benefits under the programmes of the Government of various Central Ministries. Though the responsibility of implementation of programmes will remain with the respective Ministries, the Mission will ensure that synergy is achieved in its implementation through their convergence at the State, District and Sub-district levels.
8. The National Mission is therefore, positioned to play a critical role in creating an enabling social, institutional and policy environment for taking women’s empowerment issues to a scale necessary for India’s next stages of development. In order to play this role, the Mission needs to engage consistently and continuously with a wide range of stakeholders. It would concomitantly require support and cooperation of the State Governments/UT Administrations which implement schemes/programmes of both the Central and State Government for the benefit of women in order to identify the key issues that need attention, and where the Mission, along with state governments and national line ministries, can play a role in achieving the desired convergence.
9. What has been planned at the National level must percolate down to the grassroots; encompassing State, Districts and Panchayat levels. For this the central technical and operational body of the Mission, that is the National Resource Centre for Women ( NRCW) will work with the State Resource Centres for Women to facilitate social, economic and legal empowerment of women and help overcome bottlenecks in achieving coordinated and effective service delivery.
In the end I would like all of us to take a pledge today to be committed for collective actions for empowerment of women. Please remember that each small step that we take in this direction will take us closer to changing the world for the better.
Thank you.
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