the goan I network
PANAJI
Lack of funds, inadequate space and manpower shortage are seriously hampering the functioning of Goa State Commission for Women tasked with improving the lot of women in the State and assisting them in seeking justice in cases of oppression and gender discrimination.
Speaking exclusively to The Goan, GSCW chief Shubhalaxmi Naik said that the Commission was constrained in its functioning because of a serious shortfall in staff, space and funds.
The six-member Commission, which currently meets twice a week at its office in Junta House, sadly has only one staff member.Recently, the Commission held an awareness programme on ‘Sexual Harrassment at the Workplace Act’ which was well attended, but Adv Naik lamented that the body she heads cannot take up activities other than holding workshops and awareness programmes because it lacks funds.
“We received funding of Rs 8.33 lakh in 2018-19. This is not enough to undertake projects we have in mind,” Adv Naik said, adding that since the Commission was not allowed to take up carry out any profit-making activity, grants from the government were imperative.
The Commission has already asked for more funds, said Adv Naik while pointing out that the Maharashtra Women’s Commission gets Rs 5 crore.
“When you have that kind of money, several activities can be taken up. No doubt they’re a bigger State. But if we get even Rs one crore, this would be sufficient for taking up effective and meaningful projects,” she explained.
Speaking about plans the Commission has in mind, Adv Naik said she was keen on starting a working women’s hostel, but this could only be a long-term project.”This will be a very good project. At the same time it cannot be a non-profit making project because the building will need maintenance. If it has to be a non-profit making project, then it has to be aided by the government,” she said, while adding the Commission was willing to do up the working women’s hostel in Porvorim which is currently shut.
Adv Naik said that the Commission would submit a proposal for the said hostel after the GSCW got a premises of its own. “We don’t have our own premises. We are housed in a dingy place in Junta House which is a crumbling building,” she said laughingly.
She also said that a hostel would benefit shelterless women who keep approaching the Commission. Recently a home belonging to the Parvatkar family in Old Goa, where a pregnant woman was residing, was destroyed. “We could have housed her if we had the hostel,” she said regretfully.
Speaking about other problems, she explained that the Commission does not have any penal powers which is a big setback. “Without penal powers, the GSCW is like a snake without fangs. We had a committee for amendments, but the changes we suggest cannot override those of the National Commission for Women. The penal powers lie with the courts,” she said, while explaining that this was the reason the GSCW did not step in to intervene in many cases and simply let the law take its course.
The GSCW is currently planning a conference of the Commissions from all over India on October 5 and 6 at the International Centre Goa in Dona Paula. The proposed agenda of the meeting is to highlight Goa’s Uniform Civil Code. The conference will also take up the subject of sexual harassment at the workplace.
