The UN Declaration on Violence against Women,(VAW) adopted in 1993, defines violence against women as encompassing “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life” According to the World Bank, violence against girls and women is a global pandemic that affects one in three women in their lifetimes. According to UN Women, during the COVID-19 pandemic, violence against women has emerged as a shadow pandemic.

Emerging Forms Of Violence Against Women

The World Health Organisation lists following VAWs

1. Intimate partner violence: Physical, sexual, psychological: ex marital rape, the hidden crisis of domestic violence (ex dowry deaths in India).
2. Sexual violence: Including conflict-related sexual violence. Ex: Nirbhaya Case, Disha case.
3. Honour Killings : To preserve family honour especially in case of inter-caste and inter-religious marriage : example: Manoj and Babli honour killing case 2007.
4. Forced and early marriages: which increase vulnerability to domestic abuse, early pregnancy threatens life and health of young girls. According to UNICEF, one in four Indian women are child brides.
5. Human trafficking : Particularly for the sex trade or child brides. This is often mired by unthinkable violence and a life of misery and deprivation.
6. Economic violence: Not giving due economic rights to women. ex: According to Oxfam, 80% of farmworkers in India are women but own only 13% of them have land ownership.
7. The violence of neglect like a nutritional deficiency. Example: According to NFHS 4 data: 51% of Indian women in the age group in 15 to 49 suffering from anaemia.
8. Natality Inequality: Amartya Sen in his book The Country of First Boys calls this the crisis of Missing Women reflected in the worsening sex ratio of the country.
9. E-violence: has also emerged as another dimension of VAW for example cyberbullying and harassment. Harassment of women online has been aggravated and is in turn aggravating physical violence. For example cases of online stalking have resulted in real-life harassment. Further, whatever the form women are either physically, emotionally or mentally hurt in this process.

Measures To Combat This Emerging Forms Of Violence

This multifarious crisis of VAWs therefore needs a multipronged approach 1. Improving Public Safety

1. Safe public places: through street lighting, CCTV surveillance, police patrolling.
2. Effectively operationalizing Women Safety Helpline across the nation (112).
3. Ensuring One-Stop Crisis Centres of the Ministry of Women and Child Development are established across the nation.

2. Reforms in the Criminal Justice System

1. Addressing the delays in the justice system: through Special Courts, Fast track courts.
2. Addressing Double Victimisation of victims: example mandating Victim Impact statements.

3. Legislative Efforts

1. Improved implementation of laws like Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act: by mandatorily establishing Internal Complaints Committee and ensuring annual submission of audit reports.
2. Addressing the Legislative vacuum: example recognising Marital rape under Section 375 of IPC.

4. Socio-Cultural changes

1. Eradicating Patriarchy root and branch: through gender sensitisation campaigns like Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao.
2. Curriculum Changes to incorporate gender sensitisation in education through efforts of NCERT and other bodies.
3. Efforts to address intimate partner violence through legislative backing of such crimes and family counselling must be done. For example, marital rape must be included in the definition of rape under IPC.

5. Economic empowerment: Improved female labour force participation of women through

1. Affirmative action Ex: Operation blackboard 1987 had 50% teaching seats reserved for women.
2. Women-centric support: Example: UBI for women recommended by Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee in their book Good Economics for Hard Times.
3. Upholding Coparcenary rights: example through effective implementation of Hindu Succession Act.

6. Political Empowerment

1. Improved political participation of women: for example by introducing 33% reservation for women in Parliament.
2. Empowering Women political leaders: ex MoWCD Intensive Training Programme for Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) of Panchayats

7. Addressing Online harassment

1. This should be pursued by an online coalition to combat this malaise on lines of the Christchurch call to combat extremism on the Internet.
2. Gender sensitisation and technology training to police forces to address such crimes are also the need of the hour.

Violence against women is a symptom of the larger crisis of discrimination and bias against women. In the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the commitment of our Preamble to Equality and human dignity, VAWs should be addressed root and branch. An array of legislative and policy efforts like Section375, 376 of IPC, PoCSO Act, Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act, SHE Box, Safe City Projects etc. complemented with societal efforts against patriarchal norms can herald us into a world unscarred by violence against half its population.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is an extra-constitutional body, which finds mention in the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961, where it has been accorded the status of a government department. It is a staff agency, which provides secretarial assistance and advice to the Prime Minister. It was called the Prime Minister’s Secretariat and was renamed the PMO in 1977 and is headed by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister.

Key functions performed by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) include:

• Advising the Prime Minister: The PMO provides the Prime Minister with critical information, analyses, and policy recommendations on various issues of national importance, thereby enabling informed decision-making.
• Crisis management: It is responsible for managing crises and emergencies. It coordinates the response of various government agencies and ensures that the Prime Minister is kept informed of the recent developments.
• Liaising with stakeholders: The PMO liaises with various stakeholders, including government departments, civil society organizations, and the private sector. It ensures that the Prime Minister is kept informed of the views and opinions of various stakeholders on policy issues.
• Public relations and media management: It ensures that the government’s policies and initiatives are accurately and effectively conveyed to the public.

The PMO’s role in shaping policy-making in India:

• Central role in policy coordination: The PMO plays a pivotal role in coordinating policy initiatives and decision-making processes across various government departments and Ministries. For instance, the PMO coordinated the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, a financial inclusion programme aimed at providing banking services to the unbanked population.
• International relations: It plays a key role in shaping India’s foreign policy, maintaining diplomatic relations with other countries, facilitating the Prime Minister’s engagements with foreign leaders and international organizations, etc.
• Monitoring policy implementation: It oversees the implementation of policies and programmes by various government departments and Ministries.
  • Many reforms in this sphere have come from the PMO, such as PRAGATI, centralized monitoring system, 360 degree appraisal, etc.
• Crystallizing poll promises into concrete public policies: As a party leader during elections, the PM makes several promises to the electorate. These poll promises have to be crystallised into concrete public policies. Here, the PMO comes to the aid of the PM in giving these promises the shape of public policies.

The role of the PMO in shaping policy-making in India cannot be understated. It plays a critical part in ensuring that the government’s agenda is translated into tangible policies and programmes that positively impact the lives of the citizens. The PMO’s ability to coordinate various governmental entities and ensure the smooth implementation of policies makes it an indispensable part of the Indian Executive system.

The 19th century was a period of significant political and social changes in Europe. During this time, many countries were divided into smaller states and territories. The idea of national unity was closely tied to the rise of nationalism, which gained momentum in the aftermath of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars.

Struggle for national unification in the 19th century Europe:

• Napoleon’s ambitions to establish a French-dominated empire in Europe were fulfilled to an extent with his successful campaigns till 1812.
• Napoleonic France directly annexed territories in the Low Countries and western Germany, applying revolutionary legislation in full. Satellite kingdoms were set up in other parts of Germany and in Italy, Spain, and Poland.
• After Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo in 1815, victorious powers also acquired new territories under the Treaty of Vienna.
  • Prussia gained new territories in western Germany.
  • Russia took over most of Poland.
  • Britain acquired some former French, Spanish, and Dutch colonies.
• In 1820, revolutionary agitation broke out in the fringe areas. Risings in several Italian states were put down. A rebellion in Spain was also suppressed.
  • However later, a series of wars and political struggles led to the unification of the Italian states into a single kingdom in 1861.
• Other countries, such as Ireland, Poland, and the Balkan states, also experienced nationalist movements seeking unification during this time.

Similarly, before 1871, Germany was fragmented into a large number of small states. The struggle for German unification is also marked with various wars:

• The first effort at unifying the German states came in the revolutionary year 1848 when revolts started in all German states to overthrow the present political system of Monarchy. However, due to the lack of strong executive power, the revolution disintegrated by 1849.
• The next attempt at German unification, a successful one, was undertaken by Otto von Bismarck, the Prime Minister of Prussia.
  • The first war of German unification was the 1862 Danish War, begun over the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.
  • The second war of German unification was the 1866 Austro-Prussian War. Prussia won and directly annexed some of the German states that had sided with Austria (such as Hanover and Nassau). In 1867, Bismarck created the North German Confederation, a union of the northern German states under the hegemony of Prussia.
  • The third and final act of German unification was the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, orchestrated by Bismarck to draw the western German states into alliance with the North German Confederation. With the defeat of France, the remaining German states agreed to join the North German Confederation to form a unified German state under Prussian leadership.

On January 18, 1871, the German Empire was proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. All the above-mentioned movements helped to shape the political, social, and cultural landscapes of Europe, and their legacy can still be seen today in the identities and boundaries of many modern nation-states.