{"id":192739,"date":"2022-06-27T20:35:55","date_gmt":"2022-06-27T15:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=192739"},"modified":"2022-06-27T20:37:59","modified_gmt":"2022-06-27T15:07:59","slug":"on-womens-rights-west-takes-a-backward-step-and-india-shows-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/on-womens-rights-west-takes-a-backward-step-and-india-shows-the-way\/","title":{"rendered":"On women\u2019s rights, West takes a backward step, and India shows the way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

News:<\/strong> At present, there is a distressing furore<\/strong> on social media and the streets against the near-total bans on abortion in the West.<\/p>\n

What are the reasons for India\u2019s forward-looking policy?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

About The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

It allows the abortions up to 24 gestational weeks<\/strong> on grounds of risk to the mother\u2019s life, mental anguish, rape, incest, contraception failure, or the diagnosis of foetal abnormalities.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s medical pregnancy termination regime<\/strong> is very generous in nature. It safeguards reproductive autonomy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s constitutional ethos commits to the protection of personal liberty <\/strong>through Article 21. It means abortion or termination of pregnancy is a woman\u2019s prerogative.<\/p>\n

It ensures that expectant mothers exercise self-determination<\/strong> in welcoming new life to their homes.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s readiness for and desirability for children decisively shape the life trajectories of mothers, families, and children alike.<\/p>\n

It is an established fact that unwanted pregnancies<\/strong> unexpectedly curtail the life choices <\/strong>of parents, especially mothers. It may also limit their mental well-being<\/strong> and personal growth.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Further, children born unwanted may suffer reduced opportunities because parents invest more in the education of wanted children.<\/p>\n

The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The government has introduced a bill to raise the legal marriageable age<\/strong> for women from 18 years to 21 years, in order to delay pregnancy.<\/p>\n

As per the study, adolescent mothers aged 10 to 19 years are prone to higher risks of eclampsia, puerperal endometritis, and systemic infections in comparison to women aged 20 to 24 years.<\/p>\n

Further, children born to adolescent mothers face higher risks of low birth weight, preterm delivery,<\/strong> and severe neonatal conditions<\/strong>. This happens because such young mothers are poorly aware of feeding practices and baby care, making them more likely to have stunted or wasted children.<\/p>\n

The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021,<\/strong><\/h5>\n

India has become a lucrative \u201cbio-market\u201d<\/strong> for surrogate mothers. India witnessed the commodification o<\/strong>f women and the reduction of their reproductive capacity.<\/p>\n

The act has replaced commercial surrogacy with ethical, altruistic surrogacy.<\/p>\n

The Act prohibits couples who are not of Indian origin from availing of surrogacy<\/strong> in the country.<\/p>\n

It allows only locals with certified, medical reasons necessitating gestational surrogacy to avail of it.<\/p>\n

Other Importance Women-Centric Measures<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The government policies, under the aegis of Ayushman Bharat- Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY)<\/strong> provide a health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per annum for a wide range of packages pertaining to obstetrics and gynecology.<\/p>\n

The Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY)<\/strong> partially compensates wage loss before and after pregnancy<\/p>\n

The Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyaan (PMSMA)<\/strong> provides free antenatal care to pregnant women every 9th day of the month. It eases the financial burden of pregnant women.<\/p>\n

The government is also promoting safe motherhood through institutional deliveries under Janani Suraksha Yojana<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The government also provides quality, respectful care in labour rooms<\/strong> during deliveries under schemes like LaQshya.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The government regards daughters\u2019 role at various points in their lives as mothers, students, valuable employees, and valorous entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

The Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign has been launched to ensure that girls are born and nurtured bore fruit.<\/p>\n

In addition, Ujjwala<\/strong> and Jal Jeevan Mission<\/strong> wants to provide much-needed respite from the drudgery of collecting fuelwood or water<\/p>\n

The Mudra Yojana has provided aspiring women entrepreneurs with loans without collateral. In addition, the Prime Minister\u2019s Employment Generation Programme<\/strong> has advocated for higher subsidies for women.<\/p>\n

Achievements<\/strong><\/p>\n

There has been a manifold increase in institutional deliveries, from 79% in NFHS-4 to nearly 89% in NFHS-5.<\/p>\n

India has achieved the greater longevity of mothers, as evidenced by the declining Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) from 167 per lakh live births in 2011-13 to 103 per lakh live births as of 2019.<\/p>\n

Source<\/strong>: The post is based on an article \u201cOn women\u2019s rights, West takes a backward step, and India shows the way\u201d published in the Indian Express on 27th<\/sup> June 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News: At present, there is a distressing furore on social media and the streets against the near-total bans on abortion in the West. What are the reasons for India\u2019s forward-looking policy? About The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021 It allows the abortions up to 24 gestational weeks on grounds of risk to the… Continue reading On women\u2019s rights, West takes a backward step, and India shows the way<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10308,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10500],"class_list":["post-192739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-indian-express","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704922458},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10308"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}