Comment on Role of National Commission for Women in India. (2012, 12 Marks)
The National Commission for Women (NCW) is a statutory body set up under the NCW Act, 1990 and constituted on 31 January 1992. It descends from Towards Equality (1974), which found that constitutional equality had passed most Indian women by. Its role is best read as that of an insider advocate: effective at reshaping law, weak at compelling the state to act.
Mandate and design
- Section 10 makes it a watchdog over constitutional and legal safeguards. It can take suo motu notice of rights violations, inspect places of custody, fund litigation and recommend amendments.
- Section 16 obliges the Centre to consult it on major policy matters affecting women.
- It holds civil-court powers to summon and examine, but every member is nominated by the Central Government, and its findings bind no one.
The role in practice
- Law reformer. Its most durable work is legislative. It pressed for the Domestic Violence Act, 2005, contributed to converting the Vishaka guidelines into the POSH Act, 2013, and has proposed changes to about 161 laws.
- Grievance escalator. It received 25,743 complaints in 2024, over half of them from Uttar Pradesh. Mostly it forwards them to the police and seeks reports.
- Access to justice. It runs Parivarik Mahila Lok Adalats, an NRI Cell, the helpline 14490 and the Tere Mere Sapne pre-marital centres, which numbered 287 across 17 States/UTs by September 2026.
A feminist-institutionalist appraisal
Helga Hernes coined the term “state feminism” (1987). The comparative work of Dorothy McBride Stetson and Amy Mazur found that women’s policy agencies succeed when insider access is joined to autonomy and to movement allies. The NCW has the access but lacks both of the other conditions:
- Dependence. Its budget flows through the Ministry of Women and Child Development and its staff are on deputation, which blunts its “femocrat” leverage.
- Credibility lapses. In 2012, after the Guwahati molestation, Chairperson Mamta Sharma advised women to be careful about how they dress, which shifted the blame onto women.
- Protection over empowerment. Conciliation forums and marriage counselling treat women as wards of the family rather than as citizens. That falls short of the goal in the National Policy for the Empowerment of Women, 2001.
- Weak follow-through. A parliamentary committee (August 2023) found only about 62% of complaints since 2015–16 closed, and no deadlines on ministries for acting on its recommendations.
Conclusion
The NCW’s role has been real but mainly legislative and discursive. It has changed the text of gender law more than the conduct of those who enforce it, trading autonomy for access. Restoring its standing needs independent selection of members more than new powers.