Womens Agency and Child Rights

12th Five Year Plan

Gender inequality is another important aspect which

deserves special attention. Women and girls represent
half the population and our society has not been fair to
this half. Their socio-economic status is improving, but
gaps persist.The emergence of women in public
spaces, which is an absolutely essential part of social
emancipation, is accompanied by growing threats to their
safety and security the issue of safety and security
of women is of the highest concern to our Government.
There can be no meaningful development without the
active participation of half the population and this
participation simply cannot take place if their security is
not assured - Prime Minister , 57th National
Development Council Meeting, New Delhi

State of Women and Children

Women and Children constitute 70 per cent of Indias population. According to 2011
census, women (including girls )account for 48.5 % and children about 35.% of the
population
High prevalence of anaemia among women 55 % ( in 15-49 age group)
Overall sex ratio is 940 , Child Sex Ratio (0 to 6 years) of 914
Gender differential in under 5 child mortality- 64 for girls against 55 for boys
Infant Mortality Rate is 47 and under 5 child mortality is 59/1000 in 2010
High levels of undernutrition : 40.4 per cent children under three are underweight,
44.9 per cent stunted and 22.9 percent wasted in 2005-07 ( NFHS-3)
Women victims of crimes Domestic violence, sexual abuse and assault, trafficking
A large portion of women and children are in difficult circumstances or vulnerable
including children in poor households without family income, children on streets,
children affected by substance abuse etc.

12th Plan Monitorable Targets

Reduce IMR to 25 and MMR to 1 per 1000 live Births

Improve Child Sex Ratio (06 years) to 950 by the end

of the Twelfth Five Year Plan

Reduce undernutrition among children aged 03 years to

half of the NFHS-3 levels by the end of Twelfth Five Year
Plan
Ensure that all children receive a protective environment

12th Plan Strategy

The twelfth Plan envisages engendering development planning and making

it child-centric

Calls for structural transformation- not only in the direct policy and
programme interventions for women and children but also in the policies
and programes of different sectors that impact upon women and children

The key strategies for women identified are;

1- Economic Empowerment
2- Social and Physical Infrastructure
3- Enabling legislations
4- Womens Participation in Governance
5- Inclusiveness of all categories of vulnerable women and
6- Engendering National Policies/Programmes

The key strategy for children is to fulfill the rights of children to survival,
protection, participation and development.

Economic Empowerment

Increase womens employability in the formal sector and focus on womens

work participation
Employment generation with equity in work conditions by strengthening the
implementation of the Equal Remuneration Act and the Maternity Benefit
Act
Skill development of women to enable them to move from traditional skills to
emerging skills to help women to break the gender stereotypes
Promotion of enterprises of home-based workers and small producers
Self Help Groups (SHGs) to be classified as priority sector and given loans
at concessional rates.
Technology transfers to women in all aspects of farming, farm management,
animal husbandry, forestry, sustainable natural resource management.
Joint land titles in all government land transfers. Women will be helped to
purchase land in groups for group cultivation, incentives to women
farmers/SHGs for group farming
Special emphasis on skill development of women belonging to marginalized
sections

Social and Physical Infrastructure

Education : Enabling work conditions for women teachers including

transportation facilities and housing

Transport Design Improvement : Lower height of entry steps,

installation of handrails, ramps in transportation, dedicated exclusive
services such as ladies special buses and trains , increase
services for women travelling during off-peak hour or services on
less-travelled routes and creation of night shelters and toilets for
women at Bus stations

Sanitation : Provision of toilets in schools, anganwadis and

involvement of women in determining location of sanitation facilities

Enabling Legislation

Protection of Women from Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act,

Improve implementation of Protection of Women from Domestic
Violence Act and Dowry Prohibition Act

Provision for Protection Officers to implement the Protection of

Women from Domestic Violence Act

Review of PC-PNDT Act to make sex selection practices effectively

punishable

Review of the Maternity Benefit Act to increase the length of leave

for women employed in factories, mines , plantations, shops etc.

Interventions envisaged for safety and protection of

women in 12th Plan
1- Restorative Justice for the Victims of Rape
2- Helpline for Women
3- Protection Officers for the implementation of Prevention of Women
from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA)
4- Swadhar Greh
5- One-Stop Crisis Centre

Womens Participation in Governance

Effective participation of women in institutions of governance, preelection preparation of women candidates and voters, intensive
training of elected Panchayat women representatives

Increase in the role of Panchayats in enforcing registration of births,

marriages and migration to address the issues of trafficking and
child marriage

Equip elected women representatives to ensure the efficient

delivery of public services under different programmes and
elimination of violence against women and girls and achieve
universal education

Gender focal point in urban local bodies, citizen report cards with
focus on meeting womens needs in services such as water and
sanitation, widows pensions

Inclusion of vulnerable women

Special attention to the needs of vulnerable women including the

Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs, Minorities, differentlyabled women, single women especially widows, elderly women,
women affected with HIV/AIDS, Migrant Workers, women in
disturbed areas, trafficked women, women in prison and
transgendered communities

Better implementation of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (

Prevention of Atrocities Act), 1989

Good quality house sites in the joint names of both the wife and
husband, PDS outlets in SC bastis

Support for education for girls belonging to minority community

including collective transport facilities

Engendering of Development Planning

Engendering flagship programmes to ensure the programmes

benefit both men and women

Strengthening of Gender Budgeting , extension to all Ministries /

Departments

Gender audit and gender impact assessment of the schemes to be

carried
Reflecting gender concerns in Results Framework Document (RFD)
of Ministries

Mandatory collection of sex disaggregated data

Care and Protection of the Girl Child

1- Child Sex Ratio a Monitorable Target
2- Girl Child Incentive Scheme- Dhanalaxmi
3- Empowerment of Girls through SABLA scheme
4- Girl Child Specific District Plan of Action

5- Quality Education for Girls

CHILDREN

Child Survival &

Development

Child Protection and

Child Rights

Child Survival and Development

Restructured ICDS programme with revision of cost norms ,

strengthening civil society partnership, repositioning
Anganwadi as Bal Vikas Kendra , focus on under 3,
strengthening early childhood care and education, 5 %
Anganwadis-cum- creches, provision for additional Anganwadi
Worker in 200 high burden districts, innovative component of
Sneha Shivirs

Formulation of National Policy on Early Childhood Care and

Education with curriculum framework and standards

Revision of National Policy for Children

Protection and Child Rights

Focused interventions to improve the Child Sex Ratio

Development and implementation of National, State and

District Plan of Actions for children

Harmonization of child related legislative provisions and

child-sensitive jurisprudence

Ending all forms of child labour

Addressing emerging needs of vulnerable children and

children of excluded socio religious community groups

Interventions

Implementation of ICDS in Mission Mode

Redesign the Rajiv Gandhi National Crche Scheme
Strengthening and expansion of SABLA- scheme for empowerment
of adolescent girls and linkage with education and skill development
Consolidation of Integrated Child Protection Programme
Expansion of Childline services
Design of new child participation interventions like Baal Panchayats
Strengthening institutional mechanisms for the Protection of Child
Rights
Ending discrimination against the girl child through institutional
arrangements and interventions on promoting quality education for
girls, prohibiting dowry and child marriages, incentive schemes for
the girl child
Institutionalizing child budgeting

Promotion of Nutrition Security

The decisions of Prime Ministers National Council on Indias

Nutrition Challenges are the guiding principles in the 12th Plan in
ensuring nutrition security. The decisions are;

Strengthened and Restructured Integrated Child Development

Services (ICDS) with special focus on pregnant and lactating
mothers and children under three years

Multi-sectoral programme to address maternal and child

malnutrition in 200 high-burden districts

Nation-wide information , education and communication campaign

Bringing strong nutrition focus in the Ministries /Departments dealing

with Health, Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation, School
Education Agriculture, and Food and Public Distribution

Interventions

Updation of National Plan of Action for Nutrition

Bringing strong nutrition focus to sectoral programmes
Strengthening/reactivating Institutional arrangements at National,
State, District, village and habitation level to address the nutrition
challenges
Addressing the dual burden of malnutrition
Nutrition capacity development of Nutrition resources within key
national institutions such as National Institute of Health & Family
Welfare, National Health System Resource Centre, National Institute
of Rural Development, Food and Nutrition Board and National
Institute of Public Cooperation & Child Development and networking
with Nutrition Resource Units in Agricultural Universities, Medical
Colleges and Home Science Colleges
National Nutrition Monitoring and Surveillance Systems

Nutrition Resource Platform to strengthen the knowledge base on

nutrition education at national, regional and state levels
Integration of nutrition education in school education curriculum
framework and nutrition component in medical colleges, nursing
colleges and councils
Improving the nutrition status of girls through Mid-Day Meal, health
care, IFA supplementation and deworming interventions
Community mobilization and nutrition orientation for grassroots
workers
Promoting optimal Maternal, Infant and Young Child Care and
Feeding Practices and a national policy on Infant and Young Child
Feeding and skilled nutrition counselling
Strengthening the implementation of Village Health Nutrition and
Sanitation Day
Convergent action on nutrition would make the defining difference
to the lives of children and women