The Maharashtra government is confident of tabling the much-awaited “women’s policy” in the upcoming winter session of the state assembly commencing on December 7 in Nagpur, highly placed sources told News18 on Wednesday. The final draft of this policy is ready and now the women and child development department is preparing to present it in the assembly, they added. The sources also told this reporter that the government is likely to make a few new announcements through this policy. One of the highlights would be different measures that the state government would initiate to deal with postpartum depression.
While speaking with News18, minister for women and child development Aditi Tatkare said, “There is very little awareness about postpartum depression in our country. Often women don’t understand that they are suffering from this kind of depression. Families also neglect it by saying that apart from raising a child what other responsibilities has a woman got? But we have to understand that in the current circumstances, women are also working, they have careers ahead, and they look after their families. Hence, under this policy, we have focused on how to deal with this type of depression. To tackle postpartum depression, the state government will also start counselling sessions for them, and programmes to spread awareness about this kind of depression will be on top of the agenda.”
Work was started on the fourth women’s policy of the state under the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi government. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and then the political turmoil that happened in the state, the work could not be completed. Even after forming the government with the help of the BJP, chief minister Eknath Shinde didn’t get time to focus on this policy in the last one and a half years, said sources. But after a faction of the Nationalist Congress Party was roped into this government and things settled down in the state, the final draft of the policy has been finalised, and work to table it in this assembly session is underway, they added.
The sources also said that the department had taken suggestions from subject matter experts while preparing this policy. The LGBTQ community, which was part of this policy earlier, has been excluded after many rounds of deliberations, they added. Sources also said that the social justice department has been asked to devise a separate policy for the community.
The Maharashtra government will soon also prepare a children’s policy with a special focus on the “divyang” (differently abled) kids.
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