Justice J.S. Verma calls for gender justice on International Women’s Day

Mr. Justice J.S. Verma, Chairperson of the Commission, was the Chief Guest at a function organised by the Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission in Bhopal on the occasion of International Women’s Day. Speaking on the occasion, he stated that the time had come to get to the practical implementation of human rights instead of wasting any further time on discussing the need for or merely trying to understand human rights. He felt that there were serious violations of women’s rights. They do not need just equality of opportunity, but a more, in order to achieve equality through gender justice. He stressed the need for educating women and protecting their health, so that the overall societal conditions improved. At the international level, he said, women contributed to 2/3’rds of the total working hours, though they earned only 1/3’rd of the total income and owned only 1/10th of the resources.

The Chairperson emphasised that proper education about the fundamental duties of citizens would also go a long way in encouraging and spreading culture of human rights.

Appreciating the work done by State Human Rights Commissions, he said that a lot more was required to attend to the deficiencies in various spheres of life. This could not be done by the Commissions alone. Human rights philosophy needed to be translated into practice by proper networking between governmental and non-governmental agencies. This networking should result in the pooling of all resources – administrative, financial and human, and should involve civil society fully in the protection of human rights of all. If gender issues are well addressed, the three "un-freedoms" named by Dr. Amartya Sen, namely illiteracy, malnutrition and lack of health care – can be overcome.

The Governor of Madhya Pradesh, Dr. Bhai Manohar, and the Chief Minister, Shri Digvijay Singh, also attended the function. The Governor emphasised that Indian culture required people to respect women and every Indian should abide by this precept. The Chief Minister stated that the government of Madhya Pradesh was making strenuous efforts to achieve equality and justice for women through its various programmes.