Lalitha Kumarmangalam appointed as new Chairperson of NCW

The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development has appointed BJP national executive member Lalitha Kumarmangalam as the new chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW). Ms. Kumarmangalam an alumnus of St. Stephens College and has done an MBA from Madras University. She runs an NGO, known by the name of Prakriti and contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2004 and 2009. Lalitha is the daughter of Mohan Kumarmangalam, a communist ideologues, politician and trade union leader. It is to be noted here that the National Commission for Women was set up as statutory body in January 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990  to review the Constitutional and legal safeguards for women; recommend remedial legislative measures, facilitate redressal of grievances and advise the Government on all policy matters affecting women. Recently Ministry of Women and Child development proposed to bring NCW on par with National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to effectively deal with cases of violence and harassment against women. The ministry of women and child development has proposed to elevate NCW to the status of a civil court with jurisdiction over Jammu and Kashmir and more powers including powers to investigate, search, seize, issue warrant and arrest in matters of domestic violence, police apathy and sexual harassment at work place. Every proceeding before the commission will have the status of a judicial proceeding and it will have the power to issue arrest warrants if the summons are not heeded to.