"Women are significant contributors to the growing economy and children are assets of the future. Almost 50% of our population today comprises women while 42% is under the age of 18. For growth to be truly inclusive, we have to ensure their protection, wellbeing, development, empowerment and participation.
India has committed to meeting the MDGs and is a signatory to many international conventions, including Convention for Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Yet, at the start of the Eleventh Five Year Plan, women and children continue to be victims of violence, neglect, and injustice. The Eleventh Plan will address these problems by looking at gender as a cross-cutting theme. It will recognize women’s agency and the need for women’s empowerment. At the same time it will ensure the survival, protection, and all-round development of children of all ages, communities and economic groups.
Approach: The vision of the Eleventh Five Year Plan is to end the multifaceted exclusions and discriminations faced by women and children; to ensure that every woman and child in the country is able to develop her full potential and share the benefits of economic growth and prosperity. Success will depend on our ability to adopt a participatory approach that empowers women and children and makes them partners in their own development. The roadmap for this has already been laid in the National Policy on Women 2001 and the National Plan of Action for Children 2005.
The Eleventh Plan recognizes that women and children are not homogenous categories; they belong to diverse castes, classes, communities, economic groups, and are located within a range of geographic and development zones. Consequently, some groups are more vulnerable than others. Mapping and addressing the specific deprivations that arise from these multiple locations is essential for the success of planned interventions. Thus apart from the general programme interventions, special targeted interventions catering to the differential needs of these groups will be undertaken during the Eleventh Plan.
The gender perspectives incorporated in the plan are the outcome of extensive consultations with different stakeholders, including a Group of Feminist Economists. In the Eleventh Plan, for the first time, women are recognized not just as equal citizens but as agents of economic and social growth. The approach to gender equity is based on the recognition that interventions in favour of women must be multi-pronged and they must: (i) provide women with basic entitlements, (ii) address the reality of globalization and its impact on women by prioritizing economic empowerment, (iii) ensure an environment free from all forms of violence against women (VAW)—physical, economic, social, psychological etc., (iv) ensure the participation and adequate representation of women at the highest policy levels, particularly in Parliament and State assemblies, and (v) strengthen existing institutional mechanisms and create new ones for gender main-streaming and effective policy implementation.
The child development approach in the Eleventh Plan is to ensure that children do not lose their childhood because of work, disease, and despair. It is based on the understanding that the rights of all children, including those who do not face adverse circumstances, must be protected everywhere and at all times so that they do not fall out of the social security net. Successful integration of survival, development, protection, and participation policies are important for the overall well being of the child.
Targets: The Eleventh Plan lays down six monitorable targets (1) Raise the sex ratio for age group 0–6 from 927 in 2001 to 935 by 2011–12 and to 950 by 2016–17; (2) Ensure that at least 33% of the direct and indirect beneficiaries of all government schemes are women and girl children; (3) Reduce IMR from 57 to 28 and MMR from 3.01 to one per 1000 live births; (4) Reduce malnutrition among children of age group 0–3 to half its present level; (5) Reduce anaemia among women and girls by 50% by the end of the Eleventh Plan; and (6) Reduce dropout rate for primary and secondary schooling by 10% for both girls as well as boys."
