1. Constitutional Provisions,
rights and Legislations
Concerning Children and
Women
1

2. • GoI has been striving for
holistic empowerment of
women and children through
law and policies, programmes,
capacity building and training
and awareness creation.
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3. INDICATORS
• MMR 254 per lakh
• Literacy Rate 53.67%
• No. of women married
before 18 years 45%
• Pregnant women
who are anemic 57.9%
• Sex Ratio 927 per 1000 boys
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4. Sex and Gender
Sex
• It is biological difference between men and
women
• It is nature made
• Sex never changes, it is constant
• It is non-hierarchical
• It is specific to individuals
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5. Gender
• It is a social cultural construct that is
constructed by assigning roles and
responsibilities to women and men in a given
culture and location
• It is society made
• Gender is variable
• It is systematic
• It is hierarchical
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6. COMMITMENTS
• Constitutional provisions
• Policies
•Commitments at International
level
• Legislative Support
• Action plan
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7. Constitutional Provisions
(For CHILDREN)
•Article 15: not discriminate against any citizen
•Article 21: no person shall be deprived of his
life or personal liberty
• Article 23: Traffic in humnan beings, forced
labour prohibited
• Article 24: No child below 14 years to work
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8. • Article 39: the tender age of children are not
abused
• Article 42: For securing just and humane
conditions of work and for maternity relief.
• Article 45: Free and compulsory education to
all children till fourteen years of age.
• Article 47: Raising of the level of nutrition and
the standard of living of its people.
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9. INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION
• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
 The Convention sets out these rights in 54 articles.
 It spells out the basic human rights that every child
has and broadly categorised under:
• Right to Survival
• Right to Development
• Right to Protection
• Right to Participation
 Other Conventions
• Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish. Trafficking in
persons, especially women and Children.
• SAARC Convention on Preventing and Combating
Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution.
• SAARC Convention on Regional Arrangements for the
Promotion of Child Welfare in South Asia.
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10. National Policy for Children- 1974
•Children to be covered by health and nutrition
services.
•Free and compulsory education to all children
below 14 years in a time bound manner
• Non-formal education
•Physical education, games, sports to be promoted
in schools, community centres etc.
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11. • Equality of opportunity to children of weaker sections
•Children to be protected against neglect cruelty and
exploitation
•No child under 14 to work, special facilities for
handicapped children, priority to children during
distress, calamities, special programme for gifted
children
•Existing laws to be amended to ensure safeguard of
children’s interest
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12. National Health Policy – 1983
•Emphasis on launching of nation wide
immunisation programme aimed at cent percent
coverage of targeted population
•Priority on launching of special programme for
maternal and child health with focus on under
privilaged sections of the society
• School health programme
•Emphasis on provision of safe drinking water-
sanitaiton facilities 12

13. National Policy on Education – 1986
(revised in 1992)
• High priority to ECCE
•Day Care Centres as support service for
Universalisation of Primary Education
• Integration of child care and pre-primary education
•Universal enrolment and retention of children up to 14
years of age in the school system
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14. • Child centred activity based process of learning
adopted at primary stage
• Supplementary remedial instruction for first
generation learners
• Provision for essential facilities in primary school
• Highest priority to solving of school drop-out children
• Non-formal education facilities for working children,
school drop-out, girl children
• Provision of at least two teachers (one women) in
every school
14

15. National Policy on Child Labour –
1987
•Setting up of Child Labour Technical Advisory
Committee
•Emphasis on strict enforcement of provisions of child
labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 and other
child related legislations.
•Focusing on general development programmes for
benefiting children
• Setting up of area specific projects
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16. National Nutritional Policy – 1993
Realised the importance of tackling the problem of mal-
nutrition through direct nutrition intervention for
specially vulnerable groups as well as through various
development policy instruments, which will create
condition for improved nutrition.
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17. LAW AND POLICIES
(FOR WOMEN)
• Constitution of India
 Provides equal status to women (Art 14)
 Empowers the States to take affirmative action
towards women (Art 15 (3))
• National Policy for Empowerment of Women
 Adopted in 2001
 Main Objective—To bring about advancement,
development and empowerment of women and to
eliminate all forms of discrimination against
women and to ensure their active participation in
all spheres of public life and activities.
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18. LAW AND POLICIES
• Legislations related to women’s issue:-
 Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006
 The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act,
2005
 The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987
 The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition)
Act, 1986
 The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961
 The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956
 The Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment
at Work Place Bill, 2007
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19. LAW AND POLICIES
• National Plan of Action (POA)
 To ensure that the policy prescription get
implemented, the Ministry is in the process of
drafting a National Plan of Action.
 The Plan will also identify commitment of resources
and responsibilities for implementation and
strengthen institutional mechanisms and structures
for monitoring.
 Operational strategy mentions the need to develop
Gender Development Index as a method of gender
auditing and importance of collecting gender-
disaggregated data.
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20. INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION
• UN Convention on Elimination of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
 Adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly.
 Provides the basis for realizing equality between
women and men through ensuring women's equal
access to, and equal opportunities in, political and
public life, including the right to vote and to stand for
election, as well as education, health and
employment.
 The Government of India as signatory to the
Conventions, periodically reports to the concerned
Committee on the status of implementation of the
Convention.
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21. • Article 1, 4 and 15: Equality before law
• Article 6: Trafficking of women and children
• Article 7: Political Participation
• Article 10: Education
• Article 11: Employment
• Article 12: Health
• Article 16: Marriage and family relations
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22. COMMISSIONS
• National Commission for Women
 Set-up in 1992 to safe guard the interests of women.
 Has a wide mandate covering all aspects of women’s
development and includes:--
• Investigating and examining the legal safeguards provided
for women under the constitution and other laws.
• Reviewing existing provisions in various laws and
recommend amendments to fulfill any gap.
• Looking into complaints and take suo-moto notice.
• Taking up research/studies on issues related to women.
22

23. COMMISSIONS
• National Commission for Protection of Child
Rights
 Set-up in 2007 to safe guard the interests of children.
 Has a wide mandate and includes:--
• Examine and review the safeguards provided by various laws for the
protection of child rights and recommend measures for their
effective implementation.
• Inquire into violation of child rights and recommend initiation of
proceedings in such cases.
• Undertake and promote research in the field of child rights.
• Spread child rights literacy among various sections of society and
promote awareness of the safeguards available for protection of
these rights through publications, media, seminars and other
available means.
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24. OTHER COMMISSIONS
• Other Commissions which also look into the
violation of rights of women include:-
 National Human Rights Commission
 National Commission for Minorities
 National Commission for Backward Classes
 National Commission Scheduled Castes
 National Commission Scheduled Tribes
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25. Direct Intervention – Short term
• Expanding the safety net
• Reaching the adolescent girls
• Better coverage of expectant women
• Fortification of essential foods
• Control of micro-nutrient Deficiencies amongst
vulnerable groups
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26. Indirect Policy Instruments –
Long term
• Food Security
•Improvement of dietary patterns through production
and demonstration
•Improving Public Distribution systems and Purchasing
power
• Nutrition Surveillance
• Basic Health and Nutrition Knowledge
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27. ACTION PLAN
In order to achieve the millennium development goals
relating to women and children many new schemes
have been started, these include:
•SABLA: Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of
Adolescent girls (RGSEAG).
•IGMSY: Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana, for
improvement of maternal and child status
•Right to Education Act: to fulfill the aim of
achieving education for all.
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28. Thank You
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