Triple talaq, safety, nutrition, trafficking top issues concerning women in 2017
The bill makes giving triple talaq punishable by up to three years in jail. The offence is cognisable and non- bailable.
New Delhi: The women and child development ministry grappled with issues like triple talaq, women's safety, nutrition and trafficking in 2017 and aims to undertake several initiatives this year.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill 2017, which makes triple talaq illegal and void, sailed through Lok Sabha and will now have to clear the Rajya Sabha hurdle. The bill makes giving triple talaq punishable by up to three years in jail. The offence is cognisable and non- bailable.
Reactions from women rights groups have been mixed with one section welcoming a legal framework for addressing triple talaq and the other opposed to making violation of civil contract of marriage a criminal act.
The government also plans to roll out its much-touted 'panic button for mobile phones' with a pilot project likely to kick-off in Uttar Pradesh on January 26, Women and Child Development Secretary Rakesh Shrivastava told PTI.
The 2017 saw the number of one-stop centres for survivors of sexual harassment rise from a mere 20 in the previous year to 168, benefiting over 70,000 women, according to data shared in Parliament.
The government aims to add another 150 such centres by the end of this year with the aim to provide integrated support and assistance under one roof to women affected by violence.
Another programme announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a televised address on new-year's eve in 2016 - Pradhan Mantri Matritva
Vandana Yojana to compensate working mothers for wage loss by providing them '6,000 for the delivery of their first-born — has seen some delay but is likely to be "fully functional" by February 2018, according to a top government official.
Nearly 10,000 women have availed this programme so far of the total 2.1 lakh women registered with the government — a small fraction of the estimated 51.6 lakh beneficiaries. In some good news for working mothers, Parliament passed the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016, extending maternity leave for working mothers to 26 weeks from 12 weeks.