Eleventh Five Year Plan

196 Eleventh Five Year Planplanning of programmes, allocation of finances, andin distribution of reservation facilities in education andemployment.6.57 An important agenda for the Eleventh Plan isto ensure that the rights of tribal women overcommunity land and forest produce are recognizedand established. The economic base of tribal and othervillages will be strengthened to prevent migration. Theplan also purports to encourage, document, and popularizetribal women’s knowledge of indigenous, traditionalhealing practices. It will try to include voicesof tribal women in both national and State-level planningforums that deal with women’s issues. Detailsof Eleventh Plan commitment to SC/ST women areavailable in the Social Justice chapter.MINORITY WOMEN6.58 Minority women are typically engaged in homebased,subcontracted work with lowest levels of earnings.The Sachar Committee Report has pointed out theabsence of adequate social and physical infrastructureand civic amenities in Muslim-dominated habitationsand the multiple discriminations faced by Muslimwomen. To fulfil its agenda for inclusive growth, theEleventh Plan will ensure that Muslim localities areprovided with universal benefits of primary andelementary schools, water, sanitation, electricity, publichealth facilities (PHCs), anganwadis, ration shops,roads, transport facilities, access to government developmentschemes and facilities, such as BPL cards andwidow pensions. Education will be made accessible forMuslim girls by locating educational institutions nearMuslim areas, establishing some girls’ schools, and increasingscholarships for Muslim girls. The challengeis to make technical and higher education opportunitiesavailable to minority women and to link them toemployment. Access to low interest credit, markets,technical training, leadership training, and skill developmentfor Muslim female home-based workersand entrepreneurs will be ensured. Representationof religious minorities in public employment will beincreased and minority women will be provided accessto institutional and policy level decision-making.6.59 In view of the double discrimination faced byMuslim women, the Prime Minister’s 15-pointBox 6.6Leadership Development of Minority Women:A Proposed Pilot SchemeTo tackle the double discrimination faced by Muslimwomen, the MWCD will formulate and implement a pilotscheme for ‘Leadership Development for Life, Livelihood,and Civic Empowerment of Minority Women’. This schemewill reach out to minority women and provide them withsupport, leadership training, and skill development so thatthey can move out of the confines of home and communityand assume leadership roles in accessing services, skills,and opportunities that will improve their lives and livelihoods.The scheme will give them training, inputs, information,and the confidence to interact with the governmentsystem, banks, and intermediaries at all levels. Implementationof the scheme through NGOs in the initial phase willalso encourage the NGO sector to take up work with thisneglected community. Initially the pilot scheme can belaunched in five States with large minority populations. Itis expected that this scheme will reach 35000 to 50000women directly and hundreds of thousands indirectly.programme for the minorities is a critical statementof intent. To further this agenda of inclusive growth,MoWCD will work on a pilot scheme for ‘MinorityWomen’ to empower them and place them in theforefront of making the government system at thegrassroots responsive to the needs of the minoritycommunity. Such a scheme will provide critical learningand benchmarks to launch more ambitiousprogrammes for minority women in subsequent plans.In addition to this, targeted development of SC, ST,and minority women will be made a stated part ofimplementation strategies of all WCD programmes/schemes and of the SSA. It will be made a mandatorypart of their parameters of review and monitoringguidelines.INTERNALLY DISPLACED WOMEN6.60 Internal displacement due to social strife andupheaval affects men and women differently. Adult andadolescent males are separated from families and thenumber of female-headed households increases. Evenwhen families remain together, trauma and stress ofdisplacement may destroy the unit leading to increasedincidence of domestic violence and abuse. Internallydisplaced women are at greater risk of gender-basedviolence including physical and sexual attacks. They