27-February-2013 18:49 IST
Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace
(Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill, 2013 Sexual Harassment of Women
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill, 2012 was passed by the Rajya Sabha on 26th February 2013. Lok Sabha has passed it in September 2012.Sexual Harassment at workplace is a violation of women’s right to gender equality, life and liberty. It creates an insecure and hostile work environment, which discourages women’s participation in work, thereby adversely affecting their economic empowerment and the goal of inclusive growth. However, there is no domestic law to address this issue except a few provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Supreme Court Guidelines in the case of Vishaka vs. State of Rajasthan. The increasing work participation rate of women has made it imperative that a comprehensive legislation focusing on prevention of sexual harassment as well as providing a redressal mechanism be enacted.
The salient features of the Act are as follows:
(i) It defines “sexual harassment at the workplace” in a comprehensive manner, in keeping with the definition laid down in the Vishaka judgment, and broadening it further to cover circumstances of implied or explicit promise or threat to a woman’s employment prospects or creation of hostile work environment or humiliating treatment, which can affect her health or safety.
(ii) The definition of “aggrieved woman”, who will get protection under the Act is extremely wide to cover all women, irrespective of her age or employment status, whether in the organised or unorganised sectors, public or private and covers clients, customers and domestic workers as well.
(iii) While the “workplace” in the Vishaka guidelines is confined to the traditional office set-up where there is a clear employer-employee relationship, the Act goes much further to include organisations, department, office, branch unit etc in the public and private sector, organized and unorganized, hospitals, nursing homes, educational institutions, sports institutes, stadiums, sports complex and any place visited by the employee during the course of employment including the transportation.
(iv) Definition of employee covers regular/temporary/ad hoc/daily wage employees, whether for remuneration or not and can also include volunteers. The definition of employer includes the head of the Government department/organisation/institution/office/branch/unit, the person responsible for management/supervisions/control of the workplace, the person discharging contractual obligations with respect to his/her employees and in relation to a domestic worker the person who benefits from that employment.
(v) The redressal mechanism provided in the Act is in the form of Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) and Local Complaints Committee (LCC). All workplaces employing 10 or more than 10 workers are mandated under the Act to constitute an ICC. The ICC will be a 4 member committee under the Chairpersonship of a senior woman employee and will include 2 members from amongst the employees preferably committed to the cause of women or has experience in social work/legal knowledge and includes a third party member (NGO etc) as well.
(vi) Complaints from workplaces employing less than 10 workers or when the complaint is against the employer will be looked into by the LCC. A District Officer notified under the Act will constitute the LCC at the district level. LCC will also look into complaints from domestic workers.
(vii) LCC will be a five member committee comprising of a chairperson to be nominated from amongst eminent women in the field of social work or committed to the cause of women, one member from amongst women working in block/taluka/tehsil/manicipality in the district, two members of whom at least one shall be a woman to be nominated from NGOs committed to the cause of women or a person familiar with the issues related to sexual harassment provided that at least one of the nominees should preferably have a background in law or legal knowledge. The concerned officer dealing with the social welfare or women and child development shall be an ex officio member.
(viii) A complaint of sexual harassment can be filed within a time limit of 3 months. This may be extended to another 3 months if the woman can prove that grave circumstances prevented her from doing the same.
(ix) The Act has a provision for conciliation. The ICC/LCC can take steps to settle the matter between the aggrieved woman and the respondent, however this option will be used only at the request of the woman. The Act also provides that monetary settlement shall not be made a basis of conciliation. Further, if any of the conditions of the settlement is not complied with by the respondent, the complainant can go back to the Committee who will proceed to make an inquiry.
(x) The Committee is required to complete the inquiry within a time period of 90 days. On completion of the inquiry, the report will be sent to the employer or the District Officer, as the case may be, they are mandated to take action on the report within 60 days.
(xi) In case the complaint has been found proved, then the Committee can recommend action in accordance with the provision of service rules applicable to the respondent or as per the rules which will be prescribed, where such service rules do not exist. The committee can also recommend deduction of an appropriate sum from the salary of the respondent or ask respondent to pay the sum. In case the respondent fails to pay such sum, district officer may be asked to recover such sum as an arrear of land revenue.
(xii) In case the allegation against the respondent has not been proved then the Committee can write to the employer/district officer that no action needs to be taken in the matter.
(xiii) In case of malicious or false complaint then the Act provides for a penalty according to the Service Rules. However, this clause has a safeguard in the form of an enquiry prior to establishing the malicious intent. Also, mere inability to prove the case will not attract penalty under this provision.
(xiv) The Act has provisions for providing reliefs to the aggrieved woman in the interim period including leave and transfer during the pendency of the inquiry.
(xv) The Act prohibits disclosure of the identity and addresses of the aggrieved woman, respondent and witnesses. However, information regarding the justice secured to any victim of sexual harassment under this Act without disclosing the identity can be disseminated.
(xvi) The Act casts a responsibility on every employer to create an environment which is free from sexual harassment. Employers are required to organize workshops and awareness programmes at regular intervals for sensitizing the employees about the provision of this legislation and display notices regarding the constitution of Internal Committee, penal consequences of sexual harassment etc.
(xvii) An employer will be liable to a fine of Rs 50,000 in case of violation of his duties under the Act and in case of subsequent violations the amount of fine will be double together with penalty in the form of cancelation of his licence, withdrawal or non-withdrawal of the registration required for carrying out his activity.
(xviii) In case of domestic worker the procedure is different considering the nature of employment. A domestic worker can approach the LCC in case of any complaint. If the complainant wishes then conciliation may be carried out. However, in other cases if the complaint is proved prima facie then the LCC can forward the complaint to the police for registering the case and taking appropriate action under the relevant provision of IPC.
(xix) Regarding monitoring, the Act provides that the State Governments will monitor implementation and maintain data for all State Government establishments as well as private establishments in their territory. For establishments of the Central Government this duty is cast on the Government of India. All ICCs have to submit Annual reports to the employer who inturn will submit it to the district officer. All LCCs shall submit their annual report to the district officer. The district officers will submit the report annually to the State Governments.
(xx) The Central and State Governments are mandated to develop relevant IEC and training materials and organise awareness programmes to advance the understanding of the public on the provisions of this Bill.
(xxi) The Central Government will provide financial assistance to the States to meet the expenditure of fee and allowances payable to the members of the Local Complaints Committee. (PIB) Sexual Harassment prevention Bill passed
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Lighting the lamp to inaugurate an exhibition
The Union Minister for Culture, Smt. Chandresh Kumari Katoch lighting the lamp to inaugurate an exhibition ‘The World of Khusrau’, in New Delhi on February 22, 2013. (PIB)
Bharat Nirman Public Information Campaign
The District Collector, Smt. Jayashree Muralidharan lighting the lamp to inaugurate the Bharat Nirman Public Information Campaign, at Tiruchirappilly, in Tamil Nadu on February 22, 2013. (PIB)
ATM based payment service for the ASHA volunteers
The Chairperson, National Advisory Council, Smt. Sonia Gandhi launched the Aadhar enabled micro-ATM based payment service for the ASHA volunteers, at Palghar, Dist. Thane on February 06, 2013. The Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad and the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Prithviraj Chavan are also seen. (PIB photo) 06-February-2013
Remember the responsibility towards the nation--Darshan Arora
A grand celebration at CMC hospital
Ludhiana, 26th Jan, 2013(Shalu Arora and Rector Kathuria):The 64thRepublic day was celebrated at Christian Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana with Patriotic spirit. The program started with thanks giving service for the country at college chapel, followed by Flag hoisting, March past and cultural events by staff and students of various colleges at Christian Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Guest Sh. Darshan Arora emphasized the responsibility of every citizen towards the nation and then to enjoy the freedom, brought to us by our martyrs. Earlier Sh. Darshan Arora was welcomed and introduced by the Director, CMC - Dr. Abraham G. Thomas. Present on the occasion were the Administrative team, staff and students to mark the celebration. At this occasion staffs who had completed 35 years of dedicated service were honoured. The Program was organized by College of Physiotherapy and Vice Principal thanked everyone for the help extended.
Associate Director, Dr.Kim Mammen, Principal CMC, Dr S.M. Bhatti, Principal Christian Dental College, Dr.Abi M.Thomas, Principal College of Nursing Prof.(Mrs.) Ponnamma R. Singh, Principal College of Physiotherapy, Dr.Jeewan S.Parkash, Principal IAHS, Dr.Anup Benjamin were also present on the occasion.
Now being Heard through The Panchayats
Feature on Panchayati Raj Dr. Hrusikesh Panda*
Gram Sabha is the deepest form of Decentralized Governance where every voter of a Gram Panchayat is a member and can participate in decision making, approval of plans, rejection of plans and selection of beneficiaries.
The Gram Sabha is being increasingly modelled to be the ideal institution for social audit. The reason is that the Gram Sabha consists of people who are beneficiaries of schemes and programs and are at the spot when a program or a work is taken up and are the best judges of the quality of implementation of schemes and works. Therefore, Gram Sabha should be the best agency for social audit.
A problem with Gram Sabha has been that in many places, the attendance is poor. To begin with the agenda items are often limited to works taken up by the Panchayats and therefore many people have no interest to participate in the meeting. There is the question of wage loss for a day. In order to increase participation in Gram Sabha, it should have the time and wherewithal to take up a wide range of subjects. These subjects should be of interest to the majority of population. Examples of such subjects are: primary schools, mid-day meals, drinking water systems, sewerage systems, primary health care, child and mother care programs including Anganwadi and immunisation. Most of these problems are faced by women and not by men in the villages. Therefore, these subjects can be discussed only if there is sufficient participation of women.
Another set of subjects which affect women are cash income for management of household and food security. Public Distribution System is one part of food security. The other part of food is cash security, economic activities like agriculture, horticulture, dairy, fisheries, handlooms etc. Some of the activities incidental to these activities are irrigation, land management and soil conservation. Again, effective supervision over these programs by Gram Sabha is possible only if women participate sufficiently in the Gram Sabha meetings since they are witness to these activities and have to manage food security more often than men. It has not always been possible to ensure women’s participation in many parts of the country where women do not speak before men. Sometimes, the men would like women to attend to household chores and not attend meetings which they would consider wastage of time. As a result of this vicious cycle, participation of women becomes negligible in Gram Sabha meetings, Gram Sabha does not take up issues which affect most of the people, and then the participation further declines. To stem these problems, Ministry of Panchayati Raj has been taking up with the States to have special Gram Sabha meetings with a wider range of subjects.
Special Gram Sabha meetings to discuss nutrition were held in August, 2011 and again in August, 2012. These meetings were attended by functionaries incharge of women and child care, health, sanitation, drinking water, PDS, education, mid-day meal, agriculture, horticulture, dairy and fisheries. These meetings have seen greater participation of women and have also taken up issues which benefit a larger number of people and particularly women.
During October, 2012 special Gram Sabha meetings relating to women were held. The issues which had been flagged are Anganwadi Centres, health, sanitation, drinking water, prevention of violence against women & children, prevention of dowry and female foeticide. States have also been advised to have separate quoram for women in Gram Sabha in order to raise the attendance as well as participation of women. Among others, the States of Haryana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, Rajasthan and Odisha have responded on special Gram Sabha on women issue.
However, in addition to these efforts, it is necessary to have Mahila Gram Sabha meetings for various reasons. First, in a Mahila Gram Sabha meeting, presence and participation of women is much better than in a Gram Sabha meeting. Second, the Mahila Gram Sabha meeting also takes up more sensitive topics such as dowry, domestic violence, substance abuse, violence in public space, female foeticide and trafficking of women and children. Some States like Maharashtra have been holding Mahila Gram Sabha meetings before Gram Sabha meetings. We have been advising the States to constitute Mahila Sabha meetings in addition to Gram Sabha meetings. Recently, States like Rajasthan, Odisha and Karnataka have notified for holding Mahila Sabha meetings. Our experience shows that with increased participation of women in Gram Sabha meetings or Mahila Sabha meetings, for example, expenditure from MGNREGS is going for activities like irrigation and creation of water bodies which helps in raising income through agriculture, horticulture and fodder and also helps in improving drinking water supply.
The Ministry of Panchayati Raj had advised the States to have Special Gram Sabha and Mahila Sabha meetings to discuss gender issues with special focus on female foeticide and the social impact of having a larger number of men than women. It was advised that these meetings should also be organised to discuss the issue of adverse Child Sex Ratio and female foeticide. In the areas where Mahila Sabhas has not been constituted, they should be constituted and Mahila Sabhas should take up the matter of CSR. Since the monitoring committee of Anganwadis have been put under the control of Panchayat / Ward member and Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committee (VHSNC) has been made a sub-committee of GP, Panchayats will have access to information on registration of pregnant mothers, birth of boys and girls and IMR/CMR. Therefore, Panchayats will be able to monitor sex ratio at birth and prenatal sex determination. I have attended several meetings of Gram Sabhas, Mahila Sabhas and workshops of elected Panchayat Representatives and seen how women are able to take up the problem of female foeticide upfront, discover the real reasons behind this mindset (violence against women in public space is a major concern) and how to face this.
Accordingly, Special Gram Sabha on gender issues were held in various states. In Haryana, in a programme 1500 women participated, at Julana Block on 1st September 2012. This programme was represented by people from seven Gram Panchayats. They took a solemn oath that they will make all efforts support to eradicate the social menace of female feticide. The women of these seven villages largely discussed the impact of having a lower number of women on public order and the well being of adults.
Special Gram Sabha on Gender issues was organized by Namunaghar, South Andaman on 30th October 2012 which was attended by 30 women and young girls. Among other issues, prevention of violence against women and children, prevention of dowry and female feticide were discussed. During this meeting, the people decided to organize Mahila Sabha to discuss women issues was emphasized.
A meeting in Mararikula South Gram Panchayat, district Alappuzha, Kerala was organised on 5th March, 2012 on “Mapping of violence against women”. About 2000 people, most of them women, attended this meeting. During this meeting, the findings and recommendations of the Mararikula South Gram Panchayat regarding crimes against women were discussed. This Gram Panchayat had undertaken a mapping of crimes against women, particularly in public space and educational institutions. The Gram Sabha found a few solutions too : keeping men engaged in gainful activities, particularly marine fishermen who remain inactive during their stay on shores, ensuring cash earning activities for women like dairy, establishing helplines and, providing counselling in schools to address confidence building measures so that students are able to stand up to violence. The Government of Kerala has adopted this concept and is in the process of replicating this in the state under a programme called NIRBHAYA.
The reservation for women among the elected representatives to Panchayats has increased the number of elected women representatives after 1993. This has helped in great extent in increasing political leadership of women in Local Self Government. The efforts of the Gram Sabha to take up issues which affect women and the constitution of Mahila Sabhas are empowering of women irrespective of whether they are elected or not. The enthusiasm of women in Mahila Gram Sabha meetings in some parts of the country where their participation earlier had been next to nothing is something to be seen to be believed. (PIB Feature)
16-January-2013 17:26 IST
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*Additional Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj. SS-08/SF-08/16-01-2013RTS/HSN
