Thane Municipal Corporation's budget: Women's safety high on TISS agenda

THANE: At a time when the country is debating better laws for women's safety, the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) is doing its bit to ensure that the city remains livable for women.
Two years ago, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had introduced the concept of gender budget to bridge the widening gender gap in Mumbai.
The Thane corporation has roped in Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) to help prepare this year's budget, which will lay special emphasis on women's safety, women-oriented schemes, welfare policies for women and other programmes to ensure that women participate more in the democratic and civic processes of the city, said officials.
The gender-sensitive budget, which will be presented this month, would look to highlight issues such as problems of gender inequality in public toilets, focus on flagship schemes for self-employment of women, training for their self-defence, and separate finance for women self-help groups.
The Thane Corporation currently does not have a women and child committee, thereby making it difficult to put better focus on women's policy. A meeting this week was also organized with the women corporators to seek suggestions on how to prepare a gender-sensitive budget and have special provisions for women under separate budget heads. "This year's focus is on women and we have asked all the women corporator to tell us in seven days what they would like to include in this year's budget, women policies, issues and other agendas," said a senior official of the TMC finance department.
The TISS has also taken up Thane as a pilot to study why women elected representatives do not participate in the democratic process actively. The survey will be completed in a few months, give suggestions on how participation of women could be improved in Thane. "Once they (women) start participating regularly, it will be easier for them to highlight the issues and rights of other women. Right now, the standing committee and the general body meeting of Thane is dominated by male representatives, leaving little space for women to raise their voice," said a representative of TISS.