GoM set up to strengthen women's safety laws in the workplace

NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday set up a group of ministers to strengthen legal and institutional frameworks to prevent and combat sexual harassment of women in the workplace, a development that took place a week after the minister of state in External Affairs, Mr. J. Akbar. resigned following multiple charges of sexual misconduct and sexual assault.

Led by the Union's Minister of the Interior, Rajnath Singh, the four-member GOM will review existing provisions regarding sexual harassment of women in offices. "The Government will recommend the necessary measures for the effective implementation of the existing provisions, as well as for the strengthening of existing legal and institutional frameworks to address issues related to sexual harassment in the workplace," said the Ministry of Labor. the Interior in a statement.

Other members of the government are Minister of Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Defense Nirmala Sitharaman, and Minister of Development for Women and Children Maneka Sanjay Gandhi.

The ministry announced that the group will review and recommend in three months the additional measures needed to strengthen and make more effective the existing provisions on women's safety. He said that the GoM had been set up to organize wider consultation on the issue, make appropriate recommendations and draw up a detailed plan of action to ensure time-limited implementation.

Although India has implemented the Workplace Sexual Harassment (Prevention, Prohibition and Reparation) Act in the workplace, the #MeToo campaign revealed that many victims of sexual harassment could not not to express it.

In its statement, the Ministry of the Interior said that the development of the woman and the child had also launched an electronic claim box that allows women, regardless of their professional status, to be heard their voice.