annual report1-final.qxd - Overseas Indian

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
ly those in the Gulf countries. She also spoke on
providing better opportunities to the overseas
Indian women entrepreneurs as they were among
the fastest growing working class in the world,
according to an ILO study.
WPC and NCW were working together towards
setting up a special cell that would provide free
legal assistance and counselling for women and
also a council to look into issues of social security
of women married to NRIs, she said.
Prof. V.C. Govindraj, in his presentation, took the
same point forward when he pointed to the inadequacies
in the Indian judicial system in addressing
the concerns of overseas Indian women. He
emphasised that the Indian judicial system was yet
to rise up to the needs of women and was biased
against women in many cases. He said that legal
reforms submitted to the Ministry were yet to be
taken up for consideration and he urged the MOIA
and also the Chair of the session to pursue the matter.
Komala Krishnamurthy provided a comparative
analysis of women in India and Indian women in
Malaysia and pointed out that women in Malaysia
experienced better gender equality than their counterparts
back home. Women in Malaysia had better
access to education and social equality. Malaysia
ranked 38th in Gender Development Index of the
UN. However, issues of gender segregation and
stereotyping in education is evident there as well,
with most women opting for humanities and arts
rather than science stream.
Indian women in Malaysia, however, did not
have adequate representation in governance and
the Malaysian Indian Congress was making a concerted
effort to reduce the disparity, she said.
SUGGESTIONS
The following suggestions were made:
! More representation of women from the different
diaspora countries at PBD.
! The need to register all NRI and OI marriages.
! Including men in every discussion on gender.
Responding to the queries, Dr. Girija Vyas said
that NCW was working hard to secure 33 percent
reservation for women in the Indian Parliament
and a Sexual Assault Bill would also be placed on
the floor for approval soon. The laws relating to
rape were also being taken up for reform. The
Chairperson also hoped that, by the next PBD,
there would be gender committees set up in each
country that could look into the problems of
women there.
The meeting ended with an appeal from the
Chair to civil society organisations, media and all
other sections of the public to join hands in the
effort and create gender sensitivity.
IDYP interns at the parallel session on ‘Diaspora Youth’ in
Hyderabad on January 9, 2006.
Chair:
Presentation:
Speakers:
Parallel III: Diaspora Youth
Madhu Gaud Yashki,
Member of Parliament and
Member of Standing
Committee of MOIA
Yogeswar Sangwan,
Deputy Secretary, MOIA
Yogendra Chowdhury,
Director, Nehru Yuvak Kendra
Poonam Ahluwalia,
Executive Director,
Education Development
Centre, Inc, USA
Ramesh Subramanium,
Deputy President,
Malaysian Youth Congress
Priyanka Patnaik,
Intern, 3rd IDYP
Kulvinder Singh,
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