COUNTRY REPORT ON INDIA: PART-B

ADDRESSING GENDER INEQUALITY TO PROMOTE

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

For

THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SURVEY

OF ASIA AND THE PACIFIC 2007

______________________________________________________________________

Dr. Tarun Das*, Professor (Public Policy)

Institute for Integrated Learning in Management
Lodhi Institutional Area, New Delhi-110003.

15 October 2006
______________________________________________________________________

* The paper expresses personal views of the author and should not be attributed to the
views of the organizations he is associated with. The author would like to express his
gratitude to the Poverty and Development Division, UN-ESCAP, Bangkok for providing
an opportunity to prepare this paper.

** For any clarification and additional information, EMAIL tarun.das@iilm.edu/

tarundas@nic.in/ das.tarun@hotmail.com

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 COUNTRY REPORT ON INDIA: PART-B
ADDRESSING GENDER INEQUALITY TO PROMOTE
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Professor Tarun Das, IILM, New Delhi-110003.

CONTENTS

1. Introduction

(a) Human Development Index and Gender Development Index

(b) Demographic situation

2. Trends and current status of gender inequality

(a) Gender disparity in primary, secondary and higher education

(b) Access to health services for women
(c) Access to employment to women
(d) Unemployment situation for women

3. Causes and consequences of gender inequality

(a)Cultural factors
(b) Social factors for negligence of women
(c)Economic reasons and justification

4. Government policies to ensure gender equality

(a) Education
(b) Health
(c) Employment of women
(d) Quality of life for women
(e) Women’s participation in decision making
(f) Mainstreaming gender into country development agenda

ANNEX TABLE-1: Selected gender related indicators

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 COUNTRY REPORT ON INDIA: PART-B
ADDRESSING GENDER INEQUALITY TO PROMOTE
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Professor Tarun Das, IILM, New Delhi-110003.

1. Introduction

(a) Human Development Index and Gender Development index

Indian constitution not only grants equality of rights to women but also empowers the
state to adopt policies and measures of positive discrimination in favour of women for
neutralizing the cumulative socio-economic-political and educational disadvantages faced
by them. Fundamental rights ensure equality in voting, equal protection by law; equal
rights to an adequate means of livelihood, equal opportunities in education and
employment and prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex.

To uphold the Constitution mandate, Government has enacted various legislative

measures to ensure equal rights for women and to protect them from economic, social
and political discrimination and against any form of violence, atrocities and crimes.
Although all laws are not gender specific, the provisions have been reviewed and
necessary amendments have been done to safeguard women rights and interests to keep
pace with the emerging economic and social changes and globalisation of the economy.

Development and utilization of human resources and the improvement in the overall
quality of life of the people- for both men and women- are central to the Indian
development plans over the years. If all people are healthy, educated and adequately
skilled, they can participate fully and contribute more to economic development process.

Over the years, India has made substantial progress in human development. Sustained
and high economic growth in the post reform period reduced the poverty ratio
significantly. There was also noteworthy improvement in the literacy rates over time
leading to a decline in the absolute number of illiterates. However, there are disparities
of human development indicators among men and women. There is widespread illiteracy
and under-nutrition among women and children, and maternal and child health still
remain areas of concern.

UNDP’s global Human Development Report (HDR) for 2005 ranks India at 127 out of
177 countries of the world in terms of a composite Human Development Index (HDI)
during 2003. Table1.1 provides India’s relative position in terms of the Human and
Gender Development Index (GDI) for the years 2000 and 2003. While the absolute
values of HDI and GDI consistently improved for India, its ranking in HDI has declined,
although its ranking in GDI has improved among 127 nations in 2003. However, some of
the Indian neighboring countries not only improved their HDI and GDI values but also
improved their relative ranks.

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 Table 1.1: India’s ranking in human and gender development

Country Human HDI Rank Gender GDI Rank

development Development
index (HDI) Index (GDI)
2000 2003 2000 2003 2000 2003 2000 2003
Norway 0.942 0.963 1 1 0.941 0.960 3 1
Australia 0.939 0.955 5 3 0.956 0.954 1 2
Sri Lanka 0.741 0 751 89 93 0.737 0.747 70 66
China 0.726 0.755 96 85 0.699 0.754 77 64
Indonesia 0.684 0.697 110 110 0.678 0.691 91 87
India 0.577 0.602 124 127 0.560 0.586 105 98
Pakistan 0.499 0.527 138 135 0.468 0.508 120 107
Bangladesh 0.478 0.520 145 139 0.468 0.514 121 105
Nepal 0.490 0.526 142 136 0.470 0.511 119 106
Mozambique 0.322 0.379 170 168 0.307 0.365 144 133
Niger 0.277 0.281 172 177 0.263 0.271 146 140

Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2002 and 2005.

(b) Demographic Situation

India is one of the few countries where males significantly outnumber females and this
imbalance has widened over the years. As per the latest 2001 Population Census, out of
total population of 1029 million, males constitute 52 percent and the females 48 percent.
All India sex ratio (number of females per 1000 males) improved marginally from 927 in
1991 to 933 in 2001 (comprising rural sex ratio at 946 and urban sex ratio at 901).

The mortality rate among females across all ages at 8.1 is lower than that for males at 8.9.
The female mortality rate in the age group of 0-4 years is 20.6. The mean age of marriage
for the females was 19.8 years, and the median age at the first and second birth was 19.2
and 20.1 years respectively.

2. Trends and current status of gender inequality

Despite significant progress in various human development indicators, such as life

expectancy, literacy, school enrollment and medical care, India lags far behind those of
most East Asian countries. Still more than 35 of the adult population are illiterate.

Wide gender disparities also exist in India with regard to economic, health and
educational attainment. More than 40 percent of India’s illiterates are girls or women.
The incidence of infant mortality and child malnutrition is more pervasive for females;
however, female life expectancy at birth has improved during the last decade and now
exceeds male life expectancy.

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Female unemployment rates are generally higher than male unemployment rates though
differences narrowed down over time and were nearly eliminated in rural areas in
1999-2000. Female unemployment rate in urban areas at 9.8 percent was more
than the male unemployment rate at 7.2 percent underlying the need to create
employment opportunities for females in urban areas.

(a) Gender disparity in primary, secondary and higher education

Indian constitution guarantees free primary school education to both boys and girls up to
age 14. This goal has been reconfirmed by the government many times, but has not been
achieved until now. Females continue to lag behind males in education. Census 2001
indicates that female literacy is only 54 percent compared to 76 percent for males. The
adult literacy rate for females (aged 15 years or more) was 48 percent. However, there are
wide disparities of education among states. For example, 87 percent of females in
Mizoram were literate, while only 33 percent of women in Bihar can read and write.

Indices pertaining to Elementary Education showed considerable improvement. Gross

Enrolment Ratio (GER), which indicates the number of children actually enrolled in
elementary schools as a proportion of child population in the 6-14 years age group,
increased progressively from 32 in 1950 to 85 in 2004. Rate of increase in GER of girls
was higher than that of boys, indicating a decrease in gender gap in enrolment. Female
enrolment was 87 percent in primary schools and 28 percent in high schools.

In 2002 in university education, female to male students ratio of stood at 78 percent in

arts stream, 64 percent in science, 63 percent in commerce, 33 percent in engineering and
technical education and 68 percent in medicine. The female to male teachers ratio stood
at 59 in primary schools and 54 in higher secondary schools.

Drop out rates are very high for both male and female students. Dropout rates for girl
students were 40 percent in primary schools (class I-V), 57 percent in elementary classes
(class I-VIII) and 69 per cent for secondary schools (class I-X). Reasons for not attending
schools or dropouts in both rural and urban areas include high education cost, no interest
in education, no necessity for education and engagement for household works.

Secondary & Higher Education

The Secondary Education sector prepares students in the age group of 14-18 years for
entry into higher education and employment. There has been an impressive growth in the
area of higher education with an increase in student enrolment from 7.26 million in 1997-
98 to 9.95 million in 2003-04. Enrolment of women students rose from 2.45 million in
1997-98 to 4.03 million in 2004-05, constituting 40.22 percent of the total enrolment. As
per NSSO survey (55th Round 1999-00), there were inequalities in enrolment in higher
education across various social groups in rural and urban areas, and also in terms of
Gender. Females belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes living in rural
areas are the most disadvantaged.

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 (b) Access to health services for women

Majority of women go through life in a state of nutritional stress and become anaemic
and malnourished. 52 percent of females in all age groups, 56 percent females in the age
group of 15-19 years, 54 percent in rural areas and 56 percent of the illiterate females
were anaemic in 1999. Even, 55 percent of the employed women were anaemic.

Poverty, early marriage, ill health and lack of proper vitamins and minerals and health
care during pregnancy are the major reasons for both maternal and infant mortality rates.
The average Indian women gets married at the age of 19 years, gives birth to the first
child at the age of 22 years, and has no control over her fertility and reproduction health.

Lack of adequate health facilities and antenatal services in rural areas force the families
to use unhygienic and near fatal methods of childbirth. 51 percent of child deliveries in
the rural sector are conduced at home by untrained village midwives.

(c) Access to employment to women

Gender disparities in employment, available from the latest NSSO (National Sample
Survey Organisation) 60th round on employment and unemployment situation conducted
during January-June 2004, are summarized below:

(i) The workforce participation rate or worker participation rate i.e. persons
employed per 100 persons in labour force (WPR) for males were almost the
same in both rural and urban areas, while WPR for rural females were distinctly
higher than those for urban females (Table-1.2).

(ii) The incidence of child labour, in spite of an ongoing campaign to abolish

child labour completely, is significant in particularly rural areas. About 4
percent of male and female children in the age bracket of 5-14 years in rural
areas pursued some jobs to earn their livelihoods. The position was much lower
around 1 percent in the case of urban female children.

(iii) During 2004, more than half of the usually employed in rural India were self-
employed (57 percent among males and 62 percent among females), compared
to 45 percent in urban India (44 percent of males and 45 percent of females).
Proportion of regular employees for females was lower than males in both urban
and rural areas. On the other hand, proportion of casual labour was more among
female workers than that among male workers, particularly in urban areas
(Tables 1.3-A and 1.3-B).

(iv) For rural males, proportion of self-employed had gradually fallen from 61
percent in 1983 to 54 percent in 2004. For females, the proportion declined from
62 percent in 1983 to 53 percent in 1998 but then climbed to 62 percent in 2004.
There was a corresponding increase in the proportion of male casual labour over

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 the period. The proportion of regular employees among urban males declined by
3 percentage points, while for urban females, the proportion increased by 8 to 10
percentage points (Tables 1.3-A and 1.3-B).

(v) In rural India, among all usually employed, about 66 percent of the males
and 84 percent of the females are engaged in the agriculture sector. Compared to
this, the proportion of males engaged in the agricultural activities was 78 percent
in 1983, 75 percent in 1987-88, 74 percent in 1993-94 and 71 percent in 1999-
2000. At these points of time, the proportion of female workers engaged in
agricultural activities were 88, 85, 86 and 85 respectively- showing an overall
declining trend in the share of employment in agriculture. On the contrary, over
these years, in rural India, there has been a gradual increase in the proportion of
males engaged in secondary and tertiary sectors (Tables 1.4-A and 1.4-B).

Table-1.2 Worker Participation Rates (in percent)

Round/ Rural Urban

Year Male Female Male Female
Usual Current Usual Current Usual Current Usual Current
status status status status status status status status
R-50 55.3 50.4 32.8 21.9 52.1 49.6 15.5 12.0
1993-94
R-55 53.1 47.8 29.9 20.4 51.8 49.0 13.9 11.1
1999-00
R-69 54.2 47.1 31.5 19.0 54.0 50.4 15.0 11.8
2004
Source: NSSO Employment-Unemployment Survey (60 Round) 2004.

Table-1.3-A Distribution of Usually Employed in Rural India (percent)

Round/ Males Females
Year Self Regular/ Casual Total Self Regular/ Casual Total
employed salaried labour employed salaried labour

R-50 57.7 8.5 33.8 100 58.6 2.7 38.7 100

1993-94
R-55 55.0 8.8 36.2 100 57.3 3.1 39.6 100
1999-00
R-69 57.2 9.3 33.5 100 61.5 3.8 34.7 100
2004

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 Table-1.3-B Distribution of Usually Employed in Urban India (percent)
Males Females
Self Regular/ Casual Total Self Regular/ Casual Total
employed salaried labour employed salaried labour
R-50 41.7 42.0 16.3 100 45.8 28.4 25.8 100
1993-94
R-55 41.5 41.7 16.8 100 45.3 33.3 21.4 100
1999-00
R-69 44.1 40.6 15.3 100 44.6 36.2 19 100
2004

Table-1.4-A Distribution of Usually Employed by Industry Groups- Rural India

(Percent)
Round/ Males Females
Year Primary Secondary Tertiary Total Primary Secondary Tertiary Total

R-50 74.1 11.2 14.7 100 86.2 8.3 5.5 100

1993-94
R-55 71.4 12.6 16.0 100 85.4 8.9 5.7 100
1999-00
R-69 65.9 16.0 18.1 100 84.1 9.4 6.5 100
2004

Table-1.4-B Distribution of Usually Employed by Industry Groups- Urban India

(percent)

Round/ Males Females

Year
Primary Secondary Tertiary Total Primary Secondary Tertiary Total

R-50 9.0 32.9 58.1 100 24.7 29.1 46.2 100

1993-94
R-55 6.6 32.8 60.6 100 17.7 29.4 52.9 100
1999-00
R-69 6.3 34.7 59.0 100 16.1 20.9 53.0 100
2004

(e) Unemployment situation for women

There are mainly two basic concepts of unemployment viz. Usual Status (reference period
of 365 days) and Current Status (reference period of 7 days). As per both concepts,
unemployment rates differ widely for rural and urban areas and for males and females.
Analysis of the results of the last full-fledged National Sample Survey Organisation
(NSSO) Survey in the 60th Round (first half of 2004) indicates the following general
observations:
(i) Urban unemployment rates are higher than rural rates for both males and
females. However, rural-urban differentials of unemployment rates narrowed
over the years.

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 (ii) Under usual status, rural unemployment rates are not very high.
(iii) As regards gender, females have higher unemployment rates than males in
urban areas, but the rates are roughly equal for males and females in rural areas.
(iv) There was an increasing trend of unemployment rates over the years.
(v) Unemployment rates for current status were much higher than those for usual
status implying a high degree of intermittent unemployment. This is mainly due
to the absence of regular employment for many workers.
(vi) In terms of current status, the unemployment rate is found to be higher in
2004 by about 2 percentage points in both rural and urban areas than that in
1999-2000, except for urban males.
(vii) Unemployment rates varied sharply across the states and inter-state variations
were consistent over time. States where wages are kept higher than neighboring
regions by strengthening bargaining power of labor or by provision of social
security have generally high incidence of unemployment.

Table 1.5 Unemployment Rates (in percent)

Round/ Rural Urban

Year Male Female Male Female
Usual Current Usual Current Usual Current Usual Current
status status status status status status status status
R-50 1.4 5.6 0.8 5.6 4.0 6.7 6.2 10.5
1993-94
R-55 1.7 7.2 1.0 7.0 4.5 7.3 5.7 9.4
1999-00
R-69 1.8 9.0 1.3 9.3 4.0 8.1 6.7 11.7
2004
Source: NSSO Employment-Unemployment Survey (60 Round) 2004.

4. Causes and consequences of gender inequality

(i) Cultural factors

As per Indian cultures and traditions, women are considered to be weak in physical
strength and protection, and best suitable for taking care of household cores, child and old
age care. Tribal people and some religious groups discourage education and employment
of women in order to perpetuate male domination in families. Even some educated
husbands dislike their spouses to take up employment, as it is considered to be an act of a
liberated and progressive woman, and the treatment of female workers in many offices is
not fair and ethical.

(ii) Social factors for negligence of women

Social restrictions on women’s mobility contribute to lesser healthcare and education for
women and children. About 75 percent of married women need permission from the
elders to visit even friends and close relatives, and 40 percent donot have access to

9
money. This is partly due to social values and partly to lack of proper protection and
safety for women.

Although the attitudes are changing, there is general perception that females are best
suited for household works and childcare. The generally poorer health of women is
caused by dual work burdens in production and reproduction tasks and skewed pattern of
intra-household food allocation in favour of male members. Regional variations are also
observed in gender disparities correlated to poverty incidence.

There are social obstacles in women’s participation in mainstream activities. As per data
for 2003 given by the Ministry of Home Affairs, among the crimes committed against
women, torture has the highest share (36 percent) followed by molestation (23 percent),
kidnapping and abduction (18 percent), rapes (11 percent), eve-teasing (7 percent), dowry
death (5 percent) and immoral traffic (4 percent).

(iii) Economic reasons and justification

Women’s contribution to GDP and overall economic development is undervalued as most

of the works performed by women are neither accounted for nor properly valued in
national income accounts due to lack of reliable data and proper methodology. A Time
Use Survey conducted in six selected states in 1999 indicates that women spend about 2.1
hours per day on cooking, 1.1 hours on cleaning the households and utensils, and 0.5 ours
for childcare. Men’s participation in these works is nominal. Rather they spend more time
than women on personal hygiene, entertainment, smoking, drinking, physical exercise
and reading newspapers and magazines.

Women constitute 90 percent of the total marginal workers in India. Women work longer
hours than males and carry the major share of household and community works that are
mostly unpaid and invisible. There are far fewer females in paid works than males. There
are more unemployed women than men.

Women are generally paid lower wages than males for the same type of works. It is
estimated that women’ wage rate on an average is only 75 percent of their male
counterparts and constitute only 25 percent of family income. Women mostly work in
informal sectors which donot fall within the purview of minimum wages acts. Within
organizations, women generally hold lower paid jobs. Women workers are also engaged
in piecework and subcontracting at exploitative wage rates.

Because of lower levels of education and relative immobility by women workers, in rural
commercial banks only 2 percent female employees are officers, 7 percent are clerks and
6 percent are subordinates. These figures are 5, 16 and 10 percent respectively in semi-
urban commercial banks, and 11, 27 and 10 respectively in urban commercial banks.

Females account for 26 percent of bank accounts, 21 percent of bank deposits, 17 percent
of life insurance policyholders and 16 percent of policy insured.

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 3. Government policies to ensure gender equality

As mentioned earlier, Indian constitution not only grants equality of rights to women but
also empowers the state to adopt policies and measures of positive discrimination in
favour of women for neutralizing the cumulative socio-economic-political and
educational disadvantages faced by them. To uphold the Constitution mandate,
Government has enacted various legislative measures to ensure equal rights for women
and to protect them from economic, social and political discrimination and against any
form of violence, atrocities and crimes in the emerging economic and social changes and
globalisation of the economy.

In January 1992, the Government set up a statutory body named National Commission
for Women to study and monitor all matters relating to constitutional and legal
safeguards provided to protect women interests, rights and privileges, review the existing
laws and suggest appropriate amendments.

The Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD) in the Ministry of Human
Resources Development has prepared a “National Policy for the Empowerment of
Women” in 2001 to enhance advancement, development and empowerment of women.

Empowerment of Women

The Mid Term Review of the Tenth Plan has identified areas of concern such as adverse
child sex ratio, high infant and maternal mortality, wide gender gaps in literacy and wage
rates, escalating violence against women, child trafficking, etc, and has recommended for
universalizing programs like the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS),
expanding crèches, evaluation of existing programs, strengthening the delivery
mechanism and assessing the gender impact of all programs. Planning, policies, programs
and schemes of the DWCD are being specially formulated to ensure that these objectives
in terms of social and economic empowerment of women and gender justice reach the
targeted groups.

(i) Education

Elementary Education

Resources for Elementary Education have been augmented through imposition of the
Education Cess @ 2 percent on all direct and indirect Central taxes since 2004 to provide
universal and quality basic education to all boys and girls.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)

The main vehicle at present for providing elementary education to all children is a
comprehensive programme called Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), - Universal Education
Campaign (SSA), which was launched in 2001-02. The programme is implemented in
partnership with the states. The ggoals of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) include the
following:

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 (i) To admit all Children in the age group of 6-14 years in school, Education
Guarantee Centre, Alternate ‘School, Block-to-School’ camp by 2005.
(ii) To bridge all gender and social category gaps at primary stage by 2007 and at
elementary education level by 2010.
(iii) To ensure universal retention by 2010.
(iv) To focus on elementary education of satisfactory quality with emphasis on
education for life.

National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL)

NPEGEL is an important component of SSA, which provides additional support for

girls’ education in educationally backward blocks by way of girl-child friendly school,
stationery, uniforms etc., for elementary education of under privileged girls. The scheme
is implemented in Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs) where the level of female
literacy is below, and the gender gap is above, the national average, and has at least 5
percent SC/ ST population and where SC/ST female literacy is below 10 percent, and
also in select urban slums.

Education Guarantee Scheme and Alternative/ Innovative Education (EGS & AIE)

Another important component of SSA is the EGS & AIE, which is specially designed to
provide, to children in school-less habitations and out-of-school children, access to
elementary education. The scheme supports flexible strategies for out-of-school children
through bridge courses, residential camps, drop-in centres, summer camps, remedial
coaching, etc.

Mid-Day Meal Scheme

The Centrally-sponsored Mid-Day Meal Scheme provides cooked meal to children

studying in Classes-I to V in Govt., Govt.-aided, Local Body and Education Guarantee
Scheme/Alternative Innovative Education (EGS/AIE) Centres. The programme now
covers nearly 120 million children studying in about 0.9 million schools and EGS/AIE
Centres. This is the world’s largest school feeding programme involving preparation of a
hot meal everyday.

Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV)

The KGBV Scheme was launched in August, 2004, to set up 750 residential schools at
elementary level for girls belonging predominantly to the SC, ST, OBC and minorities, in
Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs), where female literacy is below the national
average and gender gap in literacy is more than national average.

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Adult Education

Literacy rates in India have risen from only 18.3 percent in 1951, to 64.8 percent in 2001.
However, India continues to lag behind several other developing countries in the region
such as China (86 percent) and Sri Lanka (92 percent). The National Literacy Mission
(NLM) was launched on May 5, 1988 as a Technology Mission to impart functional
literacy to non-literates in the country in the age group of 15-35 years in a time bound
manner. The Mission objective is to attain a sustainable threshold literacy rate of 75
percent by 2007.

NLM has accorded high priority for the promotion of female literacy. According to 2001
Census, 47 districts in the country have female literacy rate below 30 percent. Most of
these districts are concentrated in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa. Special
innovative projects have been taken up to raise the level of female literacy in these areas.
Special efforts have been made to target female Panchayati Raj functionaries and make
them literate.

Secondary & Higher Education

A Constitution Amendment Bill has been passed by Parliament in December, 2005,

which enables the State to make special provisions, by law, for admission of students
belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and socially and educationally
backward classes to educational institutions, including aided and unaided private
educational institutions, except minority institutions referred to in Article 30(1) of the
Constitution. This would facilitate educational advancement of the above disadvantaged
groups.

(ii) Health

One of the largest child intervention programs in the world is the Integrated Child
Development Services (ICDS) initiated in 1975 with a package of 6 basic services for
children up to 6 years and pregnant and nursing mothers. These services are health,
checkups, immunization, referral services, supplementary feeding, pre school education
and health and nutrition education through a single window delivery system.

Measures to uplift health and nutrition standards of women, under the ICDS, include
health check up for pregnant women and new mothers, immunization, pre and postnatal
care and supplementary nutrition. Under the ‘Nutrition Programme for Adolescent Girls’
(NPAG), a special attention is being given to nutrition requirements of adolescent girls
(who are potential mothers). The DWCD has been operating the NPAG as a pilot project
in 51 districts with the ultimate objective of universalizing the scheme.
A National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has been launched on 12th April 2005 for a
period of 7 years (2005-2012). The programme intends to improve the performance of the
Family Welfare programme in reducing maternal and infant morbidity and mortality and
unwanted pregnancies, leading to stabilization of population growth.

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Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), a safe motherhood intervention, is an integrated package
of services and cash benefit. It has been launched all over India on 12th April 2005. The
main objectives are to reduce maternal and infant mortality by promoting institutional
delivery and making available quality care in pregnancy, delivery and post delivery by
linking delivery care to ante-natal check-up and neo-natal care along with appropriate
referral and transport assistance, in the BPL groups.

The Mother NGO (MNGO) programme of the Department of Family Welfare continued
to be implemented in all the States. MNGOs receive grant-in-aid from Government of
India through States and provide funds to ground level NGOs called Field NGOs
(FNGOs) for nurturing the capacity building at the ground levels; building strong
institutional capacity at the State, district, field levels; generating advocacy and
awareness among all stakeholders of local health care and family welfare. Currently, 215
MNGOs are working covering 324 districts of the country.

Under the Immunization programme, vaccines are given to infants and pregnant women
for controlling vaccine preventable diseases, namely childhood Tuberculosis (BCG),
Diphtheria, Pertussis, and Neonatal Tetanus (DPT), Measles and Poliomyelitis (OPV).
Significant achievement has been made under this programme.

India has made remarkable progress in controlling the spread of wild polio virus in the
country as only 63 polio cases have been reported in the country. In order to achieve zero
transmission in 2006, India has to continue our efforts for 100 percent vaccination of
children up to 5 years of age in Supplementary Immunization Rounds.

(iii) Employment of women

Economic empowerment of women cannot happen unless they are provided with
adequate income generating activities, through wage and self-employment. A number of
schemes such Swyamsiddha, Swa-Shakti, Swawlamban and STEP are in progress where
women mobilized as viable Self Help Groups (SHG) are utilizing micro credit with the
help of agencies like the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh for income generating activities or
getting trained in various traditional trades and crafts (Such as poultry, bee keeping
weaving) as well as newly emerging vocations (such as the IT sector), skill up gradation,
capacity building etc. To facilitate the employment of women away from their
homes/towns, schemes such as Working Women Hostels with day care centers and
Creches/ day centers are also being implemented. Care and protection of women in
distress is a focused area for attention in this sector.

(iv) Quality of life for women

Special schemes such as the Balika Samriddhi Yojana (BSY) and Kishori Shakti Yojana
(KSY) are being implemented for improving the life cycle approach of the girl child. The
BSY initiated in 1997-98 provides for cash deposit in an interest bearing account which
will pay for the girl child’ education and subsequently reverts to her on attaining the age
of 18 years. The scheme is in process of being transferred to the States.

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Kishori Shakti Yojana is a special intervention for the adolescent girls (11-18 years)
using the ICDS infrastructure providing for an all round development including nutrition,
literacy, vocational skills etc. KSY was implemented in only 2000 blocks up to 2004-05.
From 2005-06, the scheme is being expanded to remaining blocks of the country.

The scheme of Creches and Day-Care Centres for Children of Working and Ailing
Mothers is being implemented by the Central Social Welfare Board and two other
national level voluntary organizations namely Indian Council for Child Welfare and the
Bhartiya Adimjati Sevak Sangh.

(v) Women’s participation in decision making

The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments Acts passed in 1992 by the Parliament
ensure one-third of the total seats in all elected offices in local bodies whether in urban
areas or rural areas.

The ministry of Rural Development is operating various programs to bring women into
mainstream and to encourage their participation in the development process. These
programs have separate components for women participation. Major programs include
the Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana (SGRY- the Complete Village Employment
Program), the Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (the Commemorative Self
Employment Program), the Indira Awas Yojana (the Indira Housing Scheme), Central
Rural Sanitation Program and the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Program. During
2003, 446 million mandays were generated under SGRY-Phase-I out of which 27 percent
were female beneficiaries, and 410 million mandays were generated under SGRY-Phase-
II out of which 26 percent were female beneficiaries.

Legal Safeguards

The National Commission for Women (NCW) safeguards the interests of women with a
mandate covering almost all aspects of women’s development. There are about 42
Central Acts concerning women of which 32 Acts have been reviewed by the NCW for
their efficiency and removing gender discriminatory provisions. In addition, the DWCD
is also in the process of initiating new legislation amending existing ones so that they
become more potent in protecting women. These include Protection of women from
Domestic Violence Act, 2005 that became an Act on 14 September 2005. The Act seeks
to provide immediate and emergent relief to women who face situations of violence in
their homes. Protection Against Sexual Harassment of Women Bill, 2005 seeking to
confer on women the right to be protected from sexual harassment is being drafted.

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 (vi) Mainstreaming gender into country development agenda

Gender Budgeting

The Tenth Plan reinforced the commitment to gender budgeting to establish its gender-
differential impact and to translate gender commitments into budgetary commitments not
only for conventional sectors such as education, health or employment but also for all the
Departments. At present Gender budget cells have been set up in 35 Departments of the
Government of India.

Annex Table-1: Selected Gender Specific Indicators in 1990-2002

Items 1991 2001

1. Population* (million) 846 1029
--- Females 407 497
--- Males 439 532
2. Rural population (million) 628 743
--- Females 304 361
--- Males 324 382
3. Urban population (million) 218 286
--- Females 103 136
--- Males 115 151
4. Females/Male ratio* (%) 927 933
--- Rural 938 946
--- Urban 894 901
5.Literacy rate 52 65
--- Females 39 54
--- Males 64 78
6. Adult Literacy rate 48 61
--- Females 34 48
--- Males 62 74

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7. % of people by education levels in all population 1991 2001
(a) Illiterate
--- Females 68 55
--- Males 47 37
(b) Primary
--- Females 11 13
--- Males 14 16
(c) Middle
--- Females 7 7
--- Males 11 11
(d) Matriculate
--- Females 4 6
--- Males 8 10
(e) Higher secondary
--- Females 1 3
--- Males 3 5
(f) Non-technical diploma
--- Females 0.1 0.1
--- Males 0.03 0.05
(g) Technical diploma
--- Females 0.11 0.15
--- Males 0.4 0.55
(h) Graduate and above
--- Females 1.44 2.44
--- Males 3.4 4.8
(I) Total
--- Females 100 100
--- Males 100 100

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 1990 2000 2001
8. Mortality rates
--- Females 9.6 8.1
--- Males 9.7 8.9
9. Mean age at marriage (years)
--- Females 19.5 19.8
--- Males NA NA
10.Infant mortality rates 80 68 66
--- Females 81 69 68
--- Males 78 67 64
11.Expectation of life at birth (yrs) 60 62
--- Females 60 62.5
--- Males 59 61
12. Maternal mortality rate 407
(Per 100,000 live births)
13.share of women in poverty 25 27 27
alleviation programs
14. Literacy rate 32 43 33

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