The Hindu – It’s women power in Lakshadweep households

In the Union Territory, 43.7 per cent of households are headed by women

New Delhi, 29 December 2012.  The Union Territory of Lakshadweep, which has to its credit the youngest MP in the Lok Sabha, now has another feather in its cap — it has the largest number of households headed by women in the country.

The Lakshadweep group of islands, off the western coast, has 43.7 per cent of households headed by women.

Its MP Hamdullah Sayeed is the youngest in the Lok Sabha at 30 years.

Kerala, where some communities follow the matriarchal system, comes next with 23 per cent homes headed by women.

In India, about 27 million households, constituting nearly 11 per cent of the total households, are headed by women.

This finding was revealed in a census of “Female Headed Households” released here on Friday by Minister of State for Home Affairs R P N Singh.

Inaugurating a National Data Dissemination Workshop organised by the Registrar-General and Census Commissioner, India, the Minister said such detailed statistics would help the Planning Commission and the government in finalising schemes properly.

He pointed out that “significant improvement” had been achieved in quality of houses but access to drinking water, electricity and sanitation were the areas where more needed to be done.

C. Chandramouli, Registrar-General and Census Commissioner of India, presented the highlights of Census 2011.

Less than half — 48 per cent — of the number of female-headed households have a toilet within the premises, while just over half — 59 per cent — of such homes have bathing facilities within the premises.

Other findings of the census are:

There are about 49 lakh single-member female households in the country with three-fourths of them living in rural areas.

In seven States — Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Gujarat — the proportion of single member female-headed households is more than 20 per cent.

The proportion of male-headed households has declined by 0.6 per cent in 2011 compared to 2001 while proportion of female-headed households has increased by 0.5 per cent in the same period.

More than 60 per cent of female-headed households have permanent houses while in the case of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the percentage of such homes is at 55.8 and 33.4 respectively.

Members in around 18 per cent of female-headed households have to trudge more than 500 metres in urban areas and one kilometre in rural areas to access drinking water.

Around 45 per cent women-headed families live on one-room premises.

Around 45 per cent of these homes have television, in comparison to 47.5 per cent in male-headed homes.

The detailed findings on “Female Headed Households” can also be seen on the website of Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India at http://www.censusindia.gov.in. (IANS)

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/its-women-power-in-lakshadweep-households/article4249796.ece

The Asian Age – Cops: Politics, hooligans; RPN says 99% peaceful

Asian Age Correspondent

New Delhi, 24 December 2012. The peaceful protest in the national capital over the gangrape of a young woman turned violent on Sunday as hooligans and some political elements, while taking advantage of the facelessness of protesting people, entered the fray, the police said.

This resulted in destruction of public property and attacks on the police. In retaliation, the police said, it resorted to teargas and water cannon, leading to injuries to persons on both sides. Over 150 persons were injured, including 78 police officials of whom one was reported as being in critical condition. More than two dozen police and private vehicles were damaged, including a Doordarshan OB van.

Even a proactive initiative taken by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who met a group of protesting youth Sunday morning, failed to break the ice as political elements like Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia of Aam Admi Party (AAP) and yoga guru Baba Ramdev, along with former Army Chief General V K Singh, joined the protesters at different places in the national capital.

After the meeting between Mrs Gandhi and representatives of the protesting youth, minister of state for home affairs R P N Singh said, “The government has agreed to set up fast-track courts for speedy trial in the case and will ensure strictest punishment of the culprits.” He later apologised for the police crackdown, admitting that 99 per cent of the protesters were peaceful.

Expressing deep sorrow over the events leading to the protester-police clashes, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said late Sunday night, “Let us all pray for her (the victim) and her loved ones during this critical time. There is genuine and justified anger and anguish at this ghastly incident. We are constantly monitoring her medical condition. We are all joined in our concern for the young woman who was the victim of a heinous crime in Delhi.”

Meanwhile, hectic parleys continued to play out within the government with Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit first hold.

http://www.asianage.com/india/cops-politics-hooligans-rpn-says-99-peaceful-524