Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1991, published 78th ILC session (1991)

The Committee notes that the Government's report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

1. The Committee notes the Government's report for the period ending 30 June 1988.

2. In its previous comments, the Committee noted a recommendation by the Mandal Commission to reserve 27 per cent of jobs in the public service for disadvantaged classes (as distinct from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes). It notes from the report that the Government considers that the status quo on this question should be maintained until a national consensus evolves. It requests the Government to continue to supply information in this regard.

3. The Committee also noted in its previous comments a number of recommendations made in the 27th Report of the Commissioner of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and requested the Government to supply information on measures which had been taken or were contemplated in response to his recommendations. It notes with interest the information on the measures taken under the Sixth Five-Year Plan to improve the status of these groups, in particular the statistical information on trends in occupation and literacy rates among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and the rest of the population; and on the employment profile of these groups in central Government, showing the progress achieved in recent years.

The Committee further notes the strategy outline for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes contained in the Seventh Five-Year Plan. It requests the Government to continue to supply detailed information on the results obtained in the socio-economic development of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes through the implementation of the Seventh Plan, in particular with regard to equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation, and with regard to equal access to education and vocational training. It refers also, in this connection, to the comments it has made under other Conventions, in particular the Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention, 1957 (No. 107).

4. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that the Seventh Five-Year Plan has laid the emphasis on the question of women's employment opportunities and has set the objective of increasing and improving the work opportunities of women in various sectors through skill upgrading, group organisaton, involvement in decision-making rules, training, etc. The Committee notes from the Government's report the establishment of the National Expert Committee on Women Prisoners, the National Committee on Women, and the National Commission on Self-employed Women, and the fact that the latter has produced a report entitled "Shram Shakti" (Report on Self-employed Women and Women in the Informal Sector) in June 1988. The Committee also notes the presentation of the National Perspective Plan, outlining a long-term overall policy for Indian women, on 9 October 1988.

The Committee requests the Government to include in its next report information on the activities of the National Expert Committee on Women Prisoners, the National Committee on Women, and the National Commission on Self-employed Women with regard to equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation and with regard to equal access to education and vocational training, as well as further information on the results obtained and the progress achieved in promoting equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation through the Seventh Five-Year Plan and the National Perspective Plan. It notes, in this respect, the Government's comments on the comparative employment statistics to which reference was made in its previous request.

5. The Committee further requests the Government to provide detailed information on the measures taken to seek the co-operation of employers' and workers' organisations and other appropriate bodies in promoting the acceptance and observance of the national policy to promote equality of opportunity and treatment in respect of employment and occupation.

The Committee also hopes that the Government will be able to include in its next report statistics on the percentages of male and female students at institutes of higher education and at vocational training institutes.