THE Indian Government took a series of measures for ensuring safety, security and well-being of women during the coronavirus pandemic and the country is committed to building a just and equal post-COVlD-19 world for women and daughters, Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani has said.

 

“Women numerically constitute half of the humanity but their influence transfuses all dimensions of society, polity and economy. In India, we recognise the centrality of gender equality and women’s empowerment in all aspects of our developmental journey,” Irani said in her address to the High-level meeting on the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women on Thursday. As coronavirus hit, Irani said the “Government of India took a series of measures for ensuring safety, security and well-being of women during the COVID-19 pandemic.” These included ‘One Stop Crisis Centres’ providing medical, psychological, legal, police and shelter facilities to women under a common roof.

 

Additionally, during the pandemic all efforts are being made to ensure continuity of care for women, especially pregnant and lactating women and women in vulnerable situations, she said. She further added that the ‘National Nutritional Mission’ launched to improve nutritional status of children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers seeks to make India malnutrition free by 2022.

 

Irani reiterated India’s commitment to the full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. “What we achieved 25 years ago at the Fourth World Conference on Women still remains our guiding light and source of inspiration,” she said adding that “India remains committed to building a just and equal post-COVlD-19 world for us and our daughters.”

 

During the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, the high-level meeting was convened with the overall theme of “Accelerating the realisation of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”.

Twenty-five years after its adoption, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action remains the most comprehensive and transformative global agenda for the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.