Women Welfare / Development

PMPML takes first step towards women’s safety, commuters call it half-hearted

Tuesday, 20 August 2013 09:18 administrator

The Indian Express 20.08.2013

PMPML takes first step towards women’s safety, commuters call it half-hearted

Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML) has finally taken the first step to make travelling safe for women commuters on its 1,500 buses that ply in Pune city, Pimpri-Chinchwad and beyond. The transport utility has now started allowing women and girls to board buses through the front door at starting points besides ensuring reserved seats for them.

However, the move that was implemented last week without much fanfare and women commuters actually knowing about it, has not gone down well with the commuter groups who are describing it as a "half-hearted" move.

Activists argued that PMPML administration is not concerned about the safety of women commuters. "Instead of allowing women commuters to board buses from front door at all the bus stops, PMPML is providing the facility only at starting points. This is simply ridiculous," said Jugal Rathi of PMP Pravasi Manch.

Slamming PMPML officials, Rathi said the administration led by CMD R N Joshi and Joint MD Pravin Ashtikar do not seem to be serious about augmenting the popularity of PMPML buses. "PMPML should be going all-out to make its service popular. If women commuters feel safe, why would they travel by two-wheelers and autorickshaws? A large number of women commuters avoid buses because of the rush and inconvenience of getting inside," said Rathi.

Rathi said Ashtikar has the will power but he is not ready to confront the lower ranked officials who are not enthused with the move.

Sanjeevani Pandey, a homemaker from Chinchwad, said if the PMPML administration wants to really make women commuters feel safe, they should allow them to board from the front door.

"It is clear that PMPML administration does not understand the hardships women face while travelling. While boarding the bus, there is a mad scramble. Men push women aside and youths behave in objectionable manner. At times, women are also injured in the melee," she said.

Corporator Seema Salve said it is difficult to understand why PMPML is hesitating to make the bus service safer for women commuters. "People have developed a habit of avoiding buses and travelling by two-wheelers and cars. PMPML officials should try to find out why is this happening."

Rathi said it seems only Shrikar Pardeshi, the PCMC chief and one of the directors, would be able to turn things around. "During his short tenure as CMD, Pardeshi tried his best to improve the service. After his short tenure, it seems PMPML has again run out of ideas. But we have hope as Pardeshi is still the director of the transport utility," he said.

However, Prashant Inamdar, convenor of Pedestrians First, said,"We welcome the PMPML's small initiative. We are sure PMPML will do more to ensure safety of women commuters." Inamdar said he has received a message from Ashtikar saying that PMPML has taken a first step in ensuring safety of women commuters and would introduce other steps in phases. "I think officers down the line are not enthused. They are citing meak reasons which is why Ashtikar has not been able to implement all the measures. But they have made a good beginning."

Corporation to focus on 'Sabala' for eve-friendly city

Monday, 19 August 2013 09:07 administrator

The New Indian Express 19.08.2013

Inching a step closer to the launch of Safe City programme and ‘Sabala’, an initiative for security of women in the city, the Corporation is planning to convene a meet to evaluate the steps taken so far in this regard.

Accordingly, the meeting which will be held on August 30 will discuss in detail the plans designed to ensure maximum safety to women while commuting using public transport and going to school thereby preventing sexual harassment and violence against them.

The proposed plan was launched as per the study conducted by women's organisations, which identified major spots in the city that are unsafe for women.

The Corporation has launched the Safe City project by joining hands with Sakhi, Anweshi and Samanwaya. “The representatives of the various women empowerment organisations will attend the evaluation meet. A collective action is essential for implementing programmes aiming to end violence against women. On the basis of the recommendations, we will work on an action plan that will make Kochi a safe city for women,” Deputy Mayor B Bhadra said.

Earlier, the Corporation has also announced a few ambitious projects under the special proposal titled ‘Sabala’. The various projects include free education for children from homes with only women, a modern lodge exclusively for women where the entire staff will be women and an women-only buses .

“Besides, we are planning to carry out the other key proposal mooted in the budget for the safety of women. These include special counselling session for students along with awareness campaigns in colleges and schools on the evils of mobile phones and internet, “ Bhadra added.

The Corporation is also planning to launch more awareness campaigns for the safety of women. “Our plan is to prevent violence against the women by raising awareness among the public,” the deputy mayor added.

Women's autos: Corporation gets rolling

Friday, 19 July 2013 11:08 administrator

The New Indian Express 19.07.2013

While ensuring a secure way of transport for women in the city and offering a means of employment to another set of women at the same time, the City Corporation is gearing up to roll out its project of training women in autorickshaw driving and buying them the vehicles.

The budget announcement of the current fiscal, ‘Snehasanchari’, is envisaged as a project that can train 100 women and buy them autorickshaws. In a month-and-a-half, the civic body will initiate steps to find eligible beneficiaries for training.

“The project will be realised by joining hands with Kudumbashree. The plan is to identify women, members of Ayalkoottam, who hold driving licence and train them in autorickshaw driving. Women with a lower income are preferred,” said welfare standing committee chairman Palayam Rajan. An estimate of Rs 50 lakh has been prepared and a detailed plan will be chalked out by the civic body before the kick-off.

Women with a low income from the four Community Development Societies (CDS) will be selected to be trained and more guidelines will be spelt out in the detailed plan. Meanwhile, for buying the autorickshaws, a subsidy given by the City Corporation and beneficiary share by arranging bank loan will be pooled in.

“There are so many women in the CDS units, who have taken driving licence and cannot utilise their skills as a means of employment as they do not have the money to buy a vehicle. If the project comes about, it would be of great help to them,” said Vijayakumari S, chairperson of the Kudappanakkunnu CDS.

In the previous financial year, though a similar project was included, it failed to take off. Called ‘Sarathy’, it was aimed at training women in driving autorickshaws and for setting up an exclusive stand for the women-driven autorickshaws.

NMC to provide comp, job training to Muslim women

Friday, 12 July 2013 12:00 administrator

The Times of India 12.07.2013

NMC to provide comp, job training to Muslim women

NAGPUR: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation will start a Dr Abdul Kalam Computer Training and Employment Guarantee programme for women from Muslim community. The programme will be started from International Women's Day on March 8, 2014, announced chairperson of women and child welfare committee and BJP corporator Ashwini Jichkar.

Jichkar on Thursday convened a meeting to review various NMC programmes and projects for empowering women. She also reviewed the functioning of family counselling centres started at zone levels. The civic administration, which is acting on Central Government directives, and these centres provides information to women about their rights, address cases of domestic violence and other social issues. Experts from non-government organisations provide counselling to women to solve civil cases including family disputes, land disputes and disputes with government departments and organizations.

Besides, the civic body also provides training programme for women self-help groups in each zone. Social welfare officer (NMC) Sudha Iraskar informed Jichkar about UPSC and MPSC exam centres being run by the civic body for women hailing from weaker section of the society. The NMC also provides insurance cover for fairer sex between 10 and 75 years.

NMC health officer Dr Savita Meshram also informed that the NMC provided free ambulance through phone No 102 for women going into labour. After the meeting, Jichkar directed Iraskar to create awareness about these schemes among the woman citizens.

Rs. 1.11 cr. released for women’s welfare in Mysore

Friday, 07 June 2013 05:27 administrator

The Hindu 07.06.2013

Rs. 1.11 cr. released for women’s welfare in Mysore

Special Correspondent

The Karnataka State Women’s Development Corporation released Rs. 1.11 crore in 2012–13 towards the economic empowerment of women in Mysore district under various schemes, according to a release here on Thursday.

Women were given loans to pursue income generating programmes; over Rs. 35 lakh was provided as subsidy under the Udyogini scheme alone. This benefited 411 women.

As many as 170 people belonging to the Scheduled Castes were provided Rs. 16.58 lakh subsidy, while those from the Scheduled Tribes got Rs. 3.37 lakh, Rs. 40,000 was given to four physically handicapped persons, Rs. 1.76 lakh for 18 widows and Rs. 60,000 for eight members of the minority community.

As many as 105 women were provided training in hardware and networking, and spoken English.

Under the microfinance scheme to empower self-help groups (SHGs), four SHGs were given Rs. 1 lakh each at 6 per cent interest. This benefited 20 members of the Parvathamma Stree Shakti Sangha from Hadya village in K.R. Nagar taluk, 14 members from the Parameshwari Stree Shakti Sangha from H. Matakere in H.D. Kote taluk, 18 members from the Chikkathayamma Stree Shakti Sangha at Girugoor in Periyapatna taluk and 20 from the Lakshmi Stree Shakti Sangha from Thappur in Hunsur taluk.

The corporation also gave Rs. 70 lakh for the Women Supplementary Food Production and Training Centres to supply food to anganawadi centres.

To help market the produce of women involved in various income generating activities, the corporation providing them free stalls — 40 at the Kalamandira during Dasara and 20 at the Suttur Sri Kshetra jatra. As many as 73 women availed themselves of the benefit for a turnover of Rs. 6.7 lakh.

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