se not to opt out of marriage. The survey also came out with the startling revelation that instead of being protected during pregnancy, women were actually more prone to violence even during this period.Govt, NGOs differ over women's status By Anita Katyal The Times of India News Service NEW DELHI: The Indian government and NGOs will present a contrasting picture to the world about the status of women in the country at the special session on women in New York next week, which will review how member countries have implemented the commitments they made at the 1995 Beijing conference. The government's country paper, prepared by the department of women and child development (WCD), has compiled various official schemes for women but does not assess how effectively these are being implemented. The report hides more than it reveals as it side-steps sensitive issues like the impact of globalisation on women, and ends up telling only part of the story. The country report admits it had committed to formulate and operationalise a national policy on women, set up a commssioner for women and increase the education budget to six per cent of the GDP. The NGO report points out that none of these promises have materialided even five years after the Beijing conference. The national policy on women, drafted in 1996, is yet to be approved while the move to set up a national commissioner has been turned down by the home ministry, says the NGO report. Admitting its commitment to six per cent of GDP for education has not been met, the country paper promises to make up for this through a special programme of free education for girls up to college level - never mind that this scheme is yet to take off and after two years is still doing the rounds of various committees. The government paper has done a real tightrope walk while dealing with issue of the impact of globalisation on women. Noting that such an assessment is not easy, it, however, claims that initial ...
