Stating that there were “fewer women then men in India,” President Pratibha Patil on Thursday cautioned that if this trend continued it would have a negative impact on society. Punjab and Haryana were already seeing the “implications,” she said delivering the Dr. V.N. Tewari Memorial Oration on ‘Women as drivers of a rising India' at the Panjab University here. The President said: “An agenda for empowerment of women should cover gender needs...

The International Labour Organisation has done well to include a draft convention on decent work for domestic workers in the agenda for the 100th session of the International Labour Conference, scheduled for June. For centuries the domestic workers have lived along the margins of the international workforce. Well-documented reports by the ILO and other organisations point to the universality of their woes. Entirely informal in nature, domestic work, at its...

Nearly 50 women job card holders are working at the Bist Doaba canal near Pinjora under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Scheme without any safety measures. The work involves de-silting the canal, but officials have not provided for adequate safety measures at the site. Amarjit Kaur, one of the workers, said: “Officers should take care of our safety as the canal banks are usually quite slippery.” After the intervention by...

The National Advisory Council (NAC) has now sketched out the “contours of a national food security bill”. The goal is worthy: “Protecting all children, women and men from hunger and food deprivation.” To some, the bill might appear utopian. The truth is worse. The bill reminds us of John Stuart Mill’s denunciation of a government policy of his day: “What is commonly called Utopian is something too good to be...

Two correspondents of The Times of India have been recognized for highlighting gender inequities. The Laadli Award, instituted by NGO Population First, for promoting gender sensitivity, has gone to special correspondent Himanshi Dhawan and principal correspondent Sukhbir Siwach. Dhawan received the award for her report highlighting single women being left out from government's flagship scheme, NREGS. Siwach received a special award for consistently reporting on khaps and their gender bias, while factoring in...