The government has decided to crack down severely on harassment at work places.
Determined to put down sexual harassment of women at work places with an iron hand, the state government has decided to formulate far more stringent rules in accordance with the Supreme Court orders.
Briefing the media after a meeting of the State cabinet on Thursday, TB Jayachandra, minister for Law, Justice & Human Rights and Parliamentary Affairs, said the cabinet decided to include the clause of prohibition of sexual harassment in government offices in accordance with Supreme Court order in the case of Vishaka and others versus the government of Rajasthan.
The cabinet, said Jayachandra, had decided to incorporate new clauses in the existing Karnataka Civil Service Rules (KCSR), to ensure that no women employee is subjected to sexual harassment by her male colleagues in the government office.
The clauses would classify each of the acts amounting to sexual harassment, such as showing pornography, verbal-non-verbal gestures and other acts separately, with specific quantum of punishment.
“The act is in the draft stage. The government will call for the objections and finalise the volume and nature of punishment for the offense,” he explained.
100 more services under Sakaala
Jayachandra further announced that the cabinet approved inclusion of 110 more services in Sakaala, the predecessor government’s ambitious scheme to improve delivery of services to citizens. The 110 services relate to Urban Development, Food and other departments.
“In total as many as 1,800 services have to be brought under the act to empower the people. So far, 265 services from 11 departments have been brought under Sakaala.
Dept performance evaluation
The cabinet has consented implementation of result framework and documents method which allows formation of committees to evaluate the performances of various government departments. “So far the assessment was primarily input driven. This initiative makes it result oriented. Experts and retired officers will assess the performance of every department and highlight pros and cons to the ministers by the end of financial year,” he explained.
Milk for midday meals
In addition to hot midday meals provided in anganwadis and government schools across the state, the government is thinking of providing milk too. With good rains, the milk production in the state has increased to by more than 54 lakh litres a day, and the government’s move would help Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) to recover from losses.
He also stated that action would be taken against private companies violating Food Regulation Act by supplying substandard milk.
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