Government may bail out undertial women

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) has launched its report titled ‘Women in Prisons’.

Aim

It aims to build an understanding of the various challenges faced by women in prisons and their resolutions.

About the Report

• The report covers a wide range of issues that women face in prisons, and is inclusive of the needs of the elderly and the disabled. The report not only considers the needs of pregnant women, but also those who have recently given birth but whose children are not with them in prison, those who have miscarried, or those who have recently undergone abortion.
• The report suggests that prior to their imprisonment, women with care-giving responsibilities must be allowed to make arrangements for their children, and a reasonable suspension of detention may also be provided for this purpose. In case there are no family/friends where the child (above 6 years of age) can be left, he must be placed in a Child Care Institution.
• To address the problems of loss of ties with the child, the report encourages greater links of the child with the mother throughout her incarceration through extended visits and frequent meetings.
• The report proposes that bail should be granted to those under-trial women who have spent one-third of their maximum possible sentence in detention, by making necessary changes in Section 436A of the CrPC which provides for release after half of the maximum sentence has been served.
• Considering the needs of women in their post-natal stages, the report recommends a separate accommodation for mothers in post-natal stage to maintain hygiene and protect the infant from contagion, for at least a year after childbirth.
• Apart from the needs of pregnant and lactating women, the report has also suggested that special provisions relating to health and nutrition be made for women who have recently given birth outside prison, or who have undergone abortion or miscarriage.
• To make legal aid more effective, the report suggests that legal consultations must be conducted in confidentiality and without censorship.
• The report proposes a comprehensive after-care programme to be put in place, covering employment, financial support, regaining of child custody, shelter, counselling, continuity of health care services etc. Counselling should also be provided to family members and employers to adequately receive the woman after release.
• The report also recommends that prison authorities should coordinate with local police to ensure released prisoners are not harassed by them due to the attached stigma.
• The grievance redressal mechanism in prisons was found to be inadequate, with scope for abuse and retaliation. Thus, a need for a more robust grievance redressal system was felt. The report therefore recommends that apart from the prisoner herself, her legal adviser or family members should be allowed to make complaints regarding her stay in prison.
• Keeping in mind the mental needs of prisoners it has been recommended that inmates should have access to female counsellors/psychologists at least on a weekly basis or as frequently as needed by them.
• It is widely known that women in prisons face greater hardships than their male counterparts due to many factors such as social stigma, financial dependence on their families or husbands etc.
• These difficulties are further exacerbated when the woman has children. In the study conducted for the purpose of this report, it was found that women have to face numerous problems in prisons owing to inadequacy of female staff which often translates to the reality that male staff becomes responsible for female inmates, which is undesirable.
• It was also found that women were not provided with meals that are nutritious and according to their bodily requirements. Apart from these issues, women are at a most disadvantageous position when it comes to their reintegration in society after release.
• Many are abandoned or harassed post-release, mainly due to the stigma attached with incarceration, which is even more pronounced in cases of women.
• Further, women tend to lose ties with their children over the years, due to inadequate child custody procedures.
• Also, a robust grievance redressal mechanism was required to tackle cases of sexual harassment, violence and abuse against women in jails.
• This report would now be shared with the Ministry of Home Affairs for issuing advisory to the States for implementation of the recommendations made in the Report.

Floating solar power plant in Ujani Dam

• The Maharashtra government set up a committee to study issues related to the development of a 1,000-MW floating solar power plant at Ujani dam in Solapur district of Maharashtra.
• Director (Commercial) of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL), Satish Chavan, has been appointed as the head of the committee.
• The committee will study the environmental impact of the project and monitor the month-wise water level of the dam.
• It will study the possibilities of using the water bed of the Ujani Dam for the floating solar power plant due to unavailability of large lands.
• It will study the water levels of Ujani dam every month, total fluctuation in its water levels and obtain necessary permissions required for the project.

Ujani Dam

• Ujani, located in Madha taluka of Solapur, around 300 kms from Mumbai, is among the largest dams in Maharashtra.
• The dam was built on a flat land with less depth and is easily accessible from all sides, which is an advantage as the solar panels required to be monitored.
• Ujani dam has a total capacity of 110 TMC

‘No toilet, no bride’ resolution

• The Godikan panchayat in Haryana has become the first panchayat in India to pass a resolution to marry girls only to families that have a toilet in their house.
• This move of the Godikan panchayat has been inspired by Bollywood movie Toilet- Ek Prem Katha.
• The panchayat has passed this resolution in a motive to ensure the safety and well-being of women.
• Posters and banners reading “Beti wahin byahenge, jis ghar me shauchalaya payenge” (will marry off our daughters to households where we find a toilet) will be put for display soon.
• Godikan panchayat has already been declared an Outdoor Defecation Free panchayat.

India most Unsafe for women

• Thomson Reuters Foundation survey stated that, India is the world’s most dangerous country for women due to the high risk of sexual violence.
• India is followed by war affected Afghanistan and Syria. Somalia and Saudi Arabia are ranked fourth and fifth respectively.
• The Thomson Reuters Foundation survey involved around 550 experts on women’s issues.
• The poll of 548 people was held online, by phone and in person from 26th March and 4th May 2018. It was performed in Europe, Africa, America, South East Asia, South Asia and the Pacific.
• The only Western country in the top 10 was the US, which ranked joint third. The survey asked which five of the 193 UN member states they thought were most dangerous for women, which country was worst in terms of healthcare, economic resources, cultural or traditional practices, sexual violence and harassment, non-sexual violence and human trafficking.
• India is also ranked the most dangerous country for women in terms of human trafficking, sex slavery, domestic servitude, forced marriage, stoning and female infanticide.

Software to help in strengthening POSHAN Abhiyaan

• ICDS-CAS (Common Application Software) has been specially designed to strengthen the Service Delivery System as well as the mechanism for Real Time Monitoring (RTM) for nutritional outcomes.
• Briefing the media on the upcoming POSHAN Abhiyaan TECH-THON, WCD Secretary Sh. Rakesh Srivastava said that it looks at improving the nutrition outcomes through effective monitoring, timely intervention and also act as a fact-based decision-making tool.
• Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India organized a day-long Seminar on Technology Partnerships for Steering POSHAN Abhiyaan called ‘TECH-THON’ for POSHAN Abhiyaan – PM’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment in Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra in New Delhi.
• the Seminar is being organised to showcase and orient the environment towards the initiative, exchange ideas and to explore avenues of cooperation and partnerships for technology support, as well as, reaching-out to the beneficiaries for effective behavioural change to initiate a ‘Peoples Movement’ or Jan Andolan towards Nutrition.
• Convergence and use of Technology are the two hallmarks of POSHAN Abhiyaan. The Abhiyaan lays-down specific targets to be achieved across different monitoring parameters over the next few years.
• It is currently the largest e-Nutrition & Health programme in the World having 1.1 lakh data entry devices with frontline functionaries across 7 States (Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) enabling a footprint of 95 lakh plus beneficiaries.

POSHAN Abhiyaan

Through the use of technology, targeted approach and convergence strives to reduce the level of Stunting, Under-nutrition, Anemia and Low Birth Weight in Children, as also, focus on Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women & Lactating Mothers, thus holistically addressing malnutrition.