The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Women’s panel remains ‘headless’

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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Women’s panel remains ‘headless’

Bageshree S.

It is up to the Chief Minister to appoint chairperson, maintains Minister

Bangalore: October marks a bleak anniversary for the Karnataka State Commission for Women. It was in this month in 2007 that the then chairperson of the commission, Pramila Nesargi, stepped down from her post following the imposition of President’s Rule. The commission has remained headless since then.

For two years the commission has existed without members or a chairperson, with a KAS officer as member-secretary. The Secretary of the Women and Child Welfare Department has been given additional charge of overseeing the commission’s work.

Independent body

This is a major lacuna considering that the commission was set up as an independent body, with the powers of a civil court. It has a mandate to “investigate and examine all matters relating to the safeguards provided for women under the Constitution and other laws” as specified in the Karnataka State Commission for Women Act, 1995.

“Women’s groups have fought for the commission’s institution. It is time they appointed a chairperson and members,” Ms. Nesargi told The Hindu. She pointed out that a range of incidents had taken place over the past two years where a woman’s right to dignity was violated, ranging from the vigilante attack on women in a pub in Mangalore to the gruesome murder of landless labourer Savitramma in Malavalli.

Speaking to The Hindu, Minister for Women and Child Development P.M. Narendraswamy pleaded complete helplessness on this issue. “It is up to the Chief Minister to appoint the chairperson. I do not want to bring pressure on him,” he said.

Appalling situation

Women’s organisations are, however, appalled by this indifference. Donna Fernandes of Vimochana, a women’s organisation in Bangalore, said that the fundamental problem was the inextricable link between the appointment of a chairperson and the politics of the ruling party.

“This is bound to happen if we cannot delink the interests of the ruling party from the appointment. It should be apolitical and the person should be an autonomous entity,” Ms. Fernandes said. But unfortunately, appointment is seen as a “reward” for loyalty to the ruling party. Keeping the post vacant is a continuation of a larger indifference to all women-related institutional mechanisms, ranging from family courts to women’s police stations.

In fact, the commission did not have a chairperson for nearly two years after Philomena Peres stepped down from her post and before Ms. Nesargi took over.

Even after Ms. Nesargi was appointed chairperson in February 2007, the Government did not appoint members, and it was a single-person commission until she stepped down in October of the same year.

Another classic instance of politics dominating appointments is the manner in with which Kannada film actor Shruthi, chairperson of the Karnataka Women and Child Welfare Board, was removed from her post for “embarrassing” the party by filing for divorce from her husband, S. Mahendar, her party colleague and film director. This post too has remained vacant since then.

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