By Sophie Hardefeldt, Intern – Gender Training Institute.

Food insecurity and poverty are widespread issues in India and according to United Nations Data approximately 19% of the population suffers from under-nutrition. These issues are also highly gendered and women are more likely than men to experience food insecurity and poverty across all Indian states. The 2005-06 National Family Health Survey found that nutritional deficiency is high amongst Indian women. 36% have a BMI below 18.5, almost half of girls between the ages of 15-19 are undernourished; and 25% of women in urban areas and 41% of women in rural area suffer from under- nutrition.

The NFHS also found that Indian women are more than twice as likely to suffer from anaemia as Indian men and more than 50% of women living in rural areas suffer from mild or moderate anaemia. Rates of anaemia amongst pregnant women are particularly concerning. 59% of pregnant women in India suffer from anaemia impacting both their own health and the health of their children.

Social and economic discrimination against women results in them having less access to food. Women are less able to purchase adequate food, both in regards to quality and quantity, they have little or no say over household food purchases, and they eat last and least.

Recommendations for The national Food Security Bill

The National Food Security Bill strives to alleviate the epidemic of hunger across the nation, yet there are several sections of the Bill that require improvement to ensure women and other marginalised groups are included in policies and initiatives.

Firstly, studies must be undertaken to assess the ongoing cost of the implementation of the Bill including the development of required infrastructure. It is vital that initiatives outlined within the Bill are both realistic and enforceable.

Currently, Aganwadi centres are integral to the food security of children. Yet out of the 10.44 lakh Anganwadi centre’s operating across India approximately 15,000 function in open spaces, 32% have drinking water, 25% have toilets, 29% have kitchens and only 60% have kitchen equipment. Additionally, Anganwadi workers are not adequately paid for their work. The failure to fully operationalise this initiative has resulted in a reduction in its impact. An implementation plan and budget must be developed to ensure the Food Security Bill is fully implemented.

Implementation and monitoring mechanisms must be incorporated into the Bill to ensure initiatives are fully operationalised. Furthermore, these mechanisms must be as transparent and secure as possible to ensure that the allocated budgetary amounts are spent properly and judiciously.

In terms of addressing the gendered nature of poverty throughout India, in its current form the Bill does not adequately address women’s increased risk of food insecurity. Centre for Social Research is calling for the following changes to the Bill in order to ensure it is gender sensitive and addresses the high prevalence of food insecurity and poverty amongst Indian Women.

• The categorisation of beneficiaries must be reassessed and more appropriate forms of service distribution must be developed. The current process of categorisation involving ‘general’ and ‘priority’ categories is likely to result in women being excluded from vital food security initiatives.
• The Bill should ensure that adequate provisions are made for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe women who are more at risk of under-nutrition, anaemia and other health concerns.
• The Bill is focused on distribution of cereals and cooked meals whilst other vital foods are excluded. Effective Food Security legislation would also include pulses, millets, and oil among other things to ensure families receive adequate proteins and nutrients as well as carbohydrates.
• Studies must be undertaken to ensure that India’s poverty line is representative of hunger, food insecurity and poverty throughout the country. The current poverty line is too low which limits the effectiveness of government policies and initiatives
• The Bill must make provisions for vulnerable groups such as the aged, disabled, widows, and migrants with a particular focus on women who are more likely to experience poverty.
• The Bill must include maternity benefits of Rs 1,000 per month for six months as recommended by the NAC.
• The Bill must include a universal Integrated Child Development Service, and a universal Public Distribution System must also be seriously considered.
• Social security pensions must be incorporated in the Bill.
• The training of personnel responsible for implementing the Bill including a significant number of women from all social groups (such Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe women, widows, single women and disabled women) is essential and needs to be specified within the Bill.
• The Bill must provide incentives for food production and for decentralised food procurement and storage.
• Reform of the Public Distribution System is required to ensure the equitable distribution of food grains.
• Payment delays and penalties in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act must be addressed to ensure that beneficiaries of the scheme have better access to food.
• Government spending on agriculture must increase to ensure food production meets the demands of a growing population.

By Ranjani Raghunathan, Intern – Media & Communication Division

Continuing with CSR’s focus on Uttar Pradesh due to the ongoing elections, today we focus on crimes against women in the state.

When we began our research on the facts and figures pertaining to crimes against women in UP, the findings were dismal. According to the 2009 report of the National Crimes Research Bureau, the total number of reported crimes against women was 203804, with 23254 (11.4%) being in UP. This was the highest number of crimes all over the country. In 2010 out of a total of 213585 crimes against women, 20169 were in UP (9.44%), again the highest in the country. In an article published in the Hindustan Times in November 2011, it was reported that from the period between August 2011 to November 2011, the highest number of complaints of harassment and crimes against women received by the National Commission for Women, were from UP (2853 out of 2889).

While these are official recorded figures, it is also important to remember that there may be many more crimes which go unreported, due to a number of factors, such as fear of family members, social stigma, and embarrassment of registering a case with the police. Add to this the long and slow process of getting justice, and it is no wonder that women hesitate and think many times before lodging a formal complaint.

The high rates of crime against women in the state, combined with the staggeringly low number of women contesting this year’s assembly elections in the state, provides further impetus to the argument for the need for greater political representation of women at the state and national level. It is only when large numbers of women reach positions of power, will there be mass awareness regarding the crimes against women, and ways of preventing them.

By Ranjani Raghunathan – Intern, Media & Communication Division

The recent uproar over the three BJP ministers in the Karnataka state assembly watching pornographic clips during assembly proceedings causes one to look closely at the issue of cyber pornography, and its legal as well as social implications.

While Indian statutes do not use the term ‘pornography’, the word ‘obscenity’ appears in Section 292 of the Indian Penal Code, as well as in Section 67 of the IT Act. Both these statutes essentially anything that is (a) lascivious (excites lust) or (b) appeals to the prurient interest (characterized by lustful thoughts) or, (c) if its effect is to deprave and corrupt persons would be considered to be ‘obscene’.

It needs to be noted that while watching pornography is not illegal in India, the fact that the ministers were watching it during assembly proceedings, is a clear violation of the trust and faith put in them by the electorate. What appears hypocritical is that while our political leaders often give commentaries on morality, and the so called ‘ill effects’ of Westernization, they themselves engage in activities which are far from moral, especially since this particular incident occurred within a public domain. Many of our politicians often speak for women’s rights and furthering the causes pertaining to women on a public forum, but this episode is a clear display of the prevailing negative attitude towards women. What is even more glaring about this particular incident is that one of the leaders was the Minister for Women and Child Development, Mr. C.C. Patil, who had earlier this year made a comment on women dressing less provocatively, so as to remain ‘safe’.

It is to be noted that these ministers resigned immediately, once the matter was brought to notice. However, their acts shouldn’t be forgotten so easily, and they should be punished for their actions, so that political leaders understand the sanctity of their powerful position and learn to behave in a responsible manner.

By Ranjani Raghunathan – Intern, Media & Communication Division

It’s election time! As the first phase of UP assembly elections begins today, we at CSR decided to look at this from a gender perspective.

In a country ruled directly and indirectly by powerful women- Mayawati, Sonia Gandhi, Jayalalitha- it is ironic that in the first phase of elections in UP, only 65 women have been given tickets to contest elections, as opposed to 796 men, for a total of 55 seats. That is less than 8% of the total candidates. A shocking, dismal figure.

When the data of women candidates is examined closely, it is seen that the party which has pitched in maximum women candidates is BJP (7), followed by BSP (5). Indian National Congress gave tickets to only 4 candidates, as did Samajwadi Party. The rest of the candidates belonged to parties such as Apna Dal, Peace Party, JDU, along with a number of independent candidates. Details of individual candidates have been collected for 21 candidates. In terms of education, out of these 21 candidates, five are graduates, eight post graduates, three have passed 12^th standard, one has passed 10^th standard, and two have passed 8^th standard. In terms of criminal records, four women out of 21 have criminal records.

When one looks at this data and examines how poorly women are represented at the level of contesting for elections, the argument posed by various women’s rights groups to provide for 33% reservation for women in the parliament, seems extremely sensible and logical. One fails to understand how a state from where heavy weights such as Indira Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Mayawati have stood for elections and won them handsomely, has such poor representation of women at the time of going for polls.

This is an issue which needs to be looked beyond the facts and figures, as at the end of the day, we must realize that a democratic country like India, requires equal participation of its women in order to truly be a global player on the world stage.

By Kate Unsworth – Intern, Development Division

The Vrindavan District Legal Services Authority recently released a shocking report regarding the treatment of widows at publicly-funded shelter homes in the area. Although the description of the deplorable living conditions in these shelters has raised concern, it has been overshadowed by outraged reactions to the shelters’ disposal of dead widows’ bodies. Since the shelters don’t have sufficient funds for cremation or proper funerals, the bodies are cut into pieces, placed in garbage bags, and thrown away. Though accounts of mistreatment of widows in India are widespread, this act is particularly appalling.

The Maintenance and Welfare of Senior Citizens Act of 2007 clearly provides for the care of the elderly by their families, yet in many rural areas of India the tradition of casting widows from the home is still common. Though widows whose families do not provide for them are entitled to a monthly pension of between 200 and 550 rupees (between $4 and $11 US), few women are able to collect even this meager stipend. Since these women tend to be from poorer areas of the country, they are more likely to be uneducated and therefore unaware of their rights and unable to advocate for themselves. Without financial support or any possibility of remarriage or employment, these homeless widows leave their villages to seek asylum in cities where there might be shelter homes or ashrams to care for them.

Vrindavan has the largest population of widows in India. More than 20,000 widows who have been rejected by their families take refuge in the holy city, hoping to be taken in by beneficent ashrams. However, many women living in these institutions experience the same conditions as those living on the street. There are numerous accounts of physical abuse of widows in Vrindavan’s ashrams and many of the younger women are sexually abused and trafficked. The alternatives to these ashrams are an inadequate number of underfunded government shelter homes or begging on the streets.

Without the proper enforcement of the Maintenance and Welfare of Senior Citizens Act of 2007, increasing the widows’ pension to a livable sum, and facilitating women’s access to it, these unacceptable circumstances in Vrindavan will persist. Hopefully the Vrindavan District Legal Services Authority’s study and the subsequent media attention will provoke regional government officials to focus their efforts toward alleviating the suffering of these widows and restoring their dignity in both life and death.

By Ranjani Raghunathan, Intern – Media & Communication Division

In the papers this morning, a particular article caught my attention. Entitled ‘Panel wants a couple’s assets to be treated as joint property’ (TOI, 6th Feb 2012), the article dealt with the suggestion of the Planning Commission’s Working group on Woman Agency and Empowerment to the government to bring out a comprehensive ‘Right to Marital Property’ Act. The crux of this proposed act is that all assets, which are acquired by a couple (married, or living together) are to be treated as joint property, irrespective of who has paid for them, and thus should be distributed in an equal manner in the event of separation, divorce, or desertion.

At present, Indian laws do not recognize common property, i.e. the property is considered to belong to the person in whose name it has been bought, and thus after a couple separates, the division of assets will be done accordingly. This is unlike the situation in the West, where one partner often loses half their wealth to the other partner in the event of divorce.

If taken at face value, the present status of property distribution following a couple’s separation seems quite uncomplicated. You take whatever you have paid for. But the reality is more complex. Imagine a scenario, where a woman has spent significant years of her life in creating and nurturing a family and a home. In the event of a divorce, she will have to part with the home, simply because she didn’t pay for it in monetary terms. This is true with other assets as well – while the husband may have paid for it, the wife’s role in making meaning of the assets cannot be sidelined. The argument is endless, in the sense that while the contribution of the one who has paid for the asset is documented, the contribution of the one who also played a significant role in its acquisition and subsequent maintenance is not recorded.

The enactment of the Right to Marital Property legislation covers a myriad of dimensions concerning separation and divorce, such as payment of alimony, and thus needs to be taken in its entirety, before a definite conclusion regarding its passage is arrived at.

By Sophie Hardefeldt, Intern – Gender Training Institute.

In general women’s rights advocated promote gender neutral legislation. This is because in many cases existing legislation is outdated, is discriminatory towards women or restricts women’s rights. However, in some cases where legislation is focused on violations that particularly effect women there is a need for legislation to reflect this.

Legislation focusing on issues such as rape and sexual assault, domestic violence and sexual harassment in the workplace are examples where the gendered nature of these crimes must be taken into consideration in the legislation.

It is estimated that throughout the world one in every five women will be a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime. Furthermore, “Violence kills and disables as many women between the ages of 15 and 44 as cancer. And its toll on women’s health surpasses that of traffic accidents and malaria combined.” In India “9 percent of men and women… think that it is sometimes or always justifiable for a man to beat his wife.”

This violence undermines women’s human rights, security and health whilst also impacting society more generally by reducing women’s safety, increasing public health costs, restricting women’s ability to contribute socially, culturally and economically to society, and restricting the health and development of children.

Rape and sexual assault also affects men, and it is important that violence against men is also covered by legislation to ensure male victims are protected by the law. However, it is evident that women are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence and it is important that legislation reflects this vulnerability and that government responses to violence against women address the gender inequality and discrimination that underpins it.