Maneka Gandhi to inaugurate workshop on sexual harassment

Union minister Maneka Gandhi will inaugurate a workshop here tomorrow for internal complaint committees (ICCs) on sexual harassment of government ministries and departments.

The move comes after several women employees wrote to the Women and Child Development Ministry about delays in getting their complaints about sexual harassment resolved.

"The workshop is being held for capacity building of chairpersons of ICCs to ensure its effective implementation," an official statement said.

Gandhi had also announced an online portal to enable women employees of the Central government to voice their grievances in this regard online. The project, however, was shelved.

Around 60 participants are likely to attend the workshop tomorrow. These will be mostly Chairpersons of Internal Complaints Committees constituted in all Central government ministries/departments.

The training program is being organised in collaboration with the Institute of Secretariat Training and Management.

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 mandates that all workplaces with more than 10 workers must constitute an internal complaints committee (ICC) for receiving complaints of sexual harassment.

The Government of India has a total of 30.87 lakh employees. As per the Census of Central Government employees, 2011, women constitute 10.93 per cent of the total regular Central government employees.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)