THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It will not be a Department for Women, as was stated in LDF’s ‘Alteration Memorandum’, that will be carved out of the existing Social Justice Department. Instead it will be a Women and Child Department. What is left of the Social Justice Department will deal solely with the welfare of the disabled and the old, and social security pensions, areas that have generally received less priority. The bifurcation, therefore, will benefit the old and the disabled as much as women.
The process will be carried out on the basis of a report submitted by former social justice additional secretary Govindan Namboodiri. “Already the Social Justice Department is in charge of infinitely more than it can handle under various programmes like social security, social defence, juvenile justice, women empowerment, geriatric welfare and schemes for the disabled,” a top Social Justice official said.
Right now the Department operates 50-odd welfare schemes, deals with 11 major central and state laws, and runs hundreds of homes under 25 types of welfare and rehabilitation institutions, including Nirbhaya. Bifurcation is expected to spread welfare resources more evenly among various segments of beneficiaries.
“We have found that areas we need to concentrate like old age welfare and the empowerment of the disabled are being generally ignored. It is now a known fact that by 2031, 36 percent of the state’s population will be over 60 years,” the official said. The unsettled nature of social justice priorities has also caused welfare asymmetries. At times child-centred schemes like Integrated Child Development Scheme are given prominence but recently issues of women and child welfare have become the dominant concerns.
Rarely does old age or disability concerns grip the Department. The biggest plus of the bifurcation will be the appointment of specialist welfare officers. As of now, a district has only one welfare officer to look after the needs of juveniles, women, the disabled and the old and even the families of prisoners. “So it is obvious that no one gets priority,” the official said.
