Women are the only target of sterilisation policy: NCW chief

In the wake of the Bilaspur tragedy, National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam said that the entire sterilisation policy has been totally "dumped" on women.

"It is only the women who are targeted on issues like sterilisation. Women should be offered the entire bouquet of contraceptive choices available for family planning instead of just one method of sterilisation," she said, interacting with reporters at the Indian Women's Press Corps in New Delhi.

Botched sterilisation surgeries at Bilaspur's government-run medical camps have so far claimed lives of 13 young women and left nearly 138 ill. The NCW chief, in the context of spurt in crimes against women, said that she has spoken with Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the need to set up a centre for lodging FIRs within the women's commission. "I have spoken to the Home Minister on the need to set up a centre where women can lodge FIRs. He was positive with my idea. Now we will have to see how it works out. I will soon meet him and explain him," she said.

When asked if she was satisfied with the gender-budgeting policies of the government, she said, "The budget in India is not looked at from the gender perspective." Outlining her vision for women's empowerment, she said, "I want to bring gender into every discussion about policy." Kumaramangalam said she has also written to the human resource development ministry to make schools pay for incidents of sexual violence against students in their premises. The chairperson said she wrote the letter in response to the spate of incidents of rape and molestations in schools across the country over the past three months.