KOZHIKODE: The new women and child development (WCD) department will be the gender monitoring wing of the entire state government. Unlike the WCD departments in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Telangana, it boasts of gender planning, gender budgeting and gender auditing. “It would be the flagship department concerning women empowerment. All government programmes should undergo gender scrutiny,” said former SJ department director, V.J. Jithendran, who submitted the original proposal.
Till now, the burning issues of women and child had lost focus somewhere in the larger department of social justice, and there were no well-defined borders of each section. “There was not a dedicated system to address the issues of women and child which has got paramount importance. Meagre fund allotted to these two sections should also be a thing of the past,” he said.
The institutions associated with schemes such as Integrated Child development services (ICDS), Integrated child protection scheme (ICPS), Nirbhaya and child and women institutions fall under WCD whereas transgender, senior citizens, physically and mentally challenged, other marginalised sections and orphanage control board come under SJ.
The new department will have full-fledged district-level offices with 14 district level officers, a majority of them women, promoted from the post of ICDS supervisor and CDPO. The district level office will act as semi-directorate with power for transfer, posting, fund expenditure, etc. Another important recommendation is the abolition of existing three regional offices of SJ department.
Naseer Chaliyam, a former member of State Commission for Prote-ction of Child Rights (KeSCPCR), said the decision was most welcome. “It will strengthen the protection the Constitution guaranteed to women and child,” he noted. During UDF ministry, also a special officer had submitted the recommendation regarding the formation of the new department but the government didn’t evince interest.
