New Delhi, June 17: Flaying Tamil Nadu for a "deficient" state commission for women, National Commission for Women has asked the state government to take immediate steps to make the state commission an effective instrument for addressing the woes of the women in the state. Asking Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to review the status and working of the state commission, NCW chairperson Purnima Advani, in a letter, said "this institution, created in 1993, has an impressive mandate but insufficient where withal. It suffers from deficiencies in three areas- status, personnel and funds."
"The Tamil Nadu Commission shares with Harayana the dubious distinction of working as a subordinate adjunct of the Department of Social Welfare," she said.
Pointing out that the state body comprises five members, including the chairperson, who were all part-time functionaries and even the member-secretary has full-time responsibilities as director of social welfare in the government, NCW said the budgetary resources of less than Rs 1.5 lakh can also hardly allow meaningful interventions on behalf of the large body of women of a state like Tamil Nadu.
NCW recommended that the state commission be immediately provided with a "statutory clothing, adequate full-time staff and members and sufficient financial resources to make it an effective instrument." Bureau Report