In a bid to promote gender equality and empower women in Haryana, a State known for its adverse sex ratio and gender-based discrimination, the Manohar lal Khattar Government has proposed reservation for women in various sectors.
Besides making a strong pitch for women reservation in the State Assembly, the Haryana Government has proposed to give reservation to women in education sector, Police Department and panchayat bodies.
While a Bill to give 33 per cent reservation to women in the lok Sabha and all State legislative Assemblies is pending in Parliament, the BJP-led Haryana Government has proposed to increase the proportion of women in Government ministerial positions and Vidhan Sabha to 20 per cent in 2019 with an aim to ensure more visibility and contribution of women in politics.
At present, the Haryana Assembly has 13 women MlAs (14 per cent) of its 90 MlAs. Haryana had scripted history in 2014 Assembly polls by electing 13 women MlAs, the highest in the state since the first elections in 1967 after its formation.
While a total 116 women candidates had contested the 2014 Assembly polls, eight women MlAs from the BJP, three from the Congress and one each from the INlD and the Haryana Janhit Congress (merged with the Congress later) were elected.
However, the State has only one woman Cabinet Minister.
The BJP-led State Government in its Haryana Vision Document 2030, has planned to increase the proportion of seats held by women in Vidhan Sabha to 20 per cent in 2019, 25 per cent in 2022 and 35 per cent in 2030. However, the document also supported the reservation of 33 per cent for women in Vidhan Sabha , a bill for which is pending in Parliament.
To ensure contribution of women in policy-making process, the Government has proposed to increase the percentage of women in Government ministerial positions to 20 per cent in 2019 and later, 25 per cent in 2022. Stressing on reservation for women, the Vision Document has also proposed reservation of one third of local panchayat seats for women in the state.
Also, the women which constitute around six percent of the total sanctioned strength of the state Police Department is planned to be increased to 15 percent by 2019 and 20 percent by 2022 in Haryana.
Apart from this, the Vision Document recommends enforcing reservation of 33 percent of positions for women teachers in recruitment in government schools. In this regard, a standing panel of women teachers would be constituted.
In its efforts towards integrating gender equality at the structural level, the government has also planned to establish a gender budgeting cell in every department to incorporate a gender perspective at all levels and stages of budgetary process. This is proposed to ensure that gender commitments are supported through budgetary and financial means.
Notably, as per Census 2011, Haryana had the lowest child sex ratio in the country with 834 girls to 1,000 boys and an overall sex ratio of 879 females to 1,000 males.
Following the launch of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao programme and various campaigns to save girl child, the child sex ratio as of 2016, as per the Registrar of Births & Deaths, Haryana, stood at 900 girls to 1,000 boys.