New Delhi: The newly appointed chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW) Lalitha Kumarmangalam, on Monday took charge of office.
Soon after assuming charge, Kumaramangalam went to meet the Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi.
Kumarmangalam who hails from Tamil Nadu said that her priority is to make NCW operate effectively.
"The Commission needs to be effective and I will do, whatever needs to be done in this regard," she said.
When asked about WCD ministry's proposal which is aimed at enhancing the powers of the Commission, she said, "During my meeting with the minister, we talked about it and the Minister said she will give all possible support to make the Commission effective."
The NCW Chief intends to utilise the money under the Nirbhaya Fund which is lying "unused".
Also on her priority list is, mainstreaming of gender issues in every developmental activity.
"I want to address it in terms of allowing women access to each and every development activity, especially in government sector like skill building, sanitation and infrastructure," said Kumaramangalam.
Reacting to the Supreme Court order which ruled that police cannot arrest the accused in dowry cases automatically, she said that misuse of anti-dowry law or domestic violence law is very low.
"We have to look into such issues practically. After almost thousand years of suppression of women, these laws have come to the fore.
"Of course, their misuse is a concern, but then the percentage of misuse is very low. Just for that we should not dilute the law, rather look at it from a broader and long term perspective," she said.
Kumaramangalam also runs an NGO called Prakriti and contested Lok Sabha polls in 2004 and 2009 but lost in both the elections.
She was born to Mohan Kumaramangalam a communist ideologues, politician and trade union leader.
