THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A pension scheme for aged women, a noble proposal of the State Women’s Commission submitted to the government a year ago, is still awaiting the ‘green signal’.
The Commission had submitted the proposal to the government to provide pension to women above 50 years of age and was optimistic that it would be sanctioned.
“It was for the first time that the Commission submitted such a proposal which could address the issues of women who were not employed. Many of them have no means of livelihood as they couldn’t find a job for themselves or had to quit their job to look after children and family,” chairperson of the commission K C Rosakkutty said.
“The contributions of these women have been ignored since the ‘outcome’ of their work does not make a visible change in the economy as homemaking always remain unpaid,” she said.
The Commission mooted the pension scheme as a recognition for the women’s ‘sacrifice’.
“The proposal has been already submitted to the government expecting financial funding for the same.It is expected to be implemented in the near future,” Rosakkutty said. Through the scheme, the Commission plans to extend a helping hand to deserving women to ensure better social security to them.
After the successful launch of the flagship programme ‘Kalalaya Jyothi’ which focused on girl students of schools and colleges, the Commission decided to take this step to address the financial problems of aged women to an extent.
‘Kalalaya Jyothi’ was an awareness campaign for sensitising girls towards the changes happening around them.