Report indicts West Bengal on women's issues

KOLKATA: A recent report of the Union human resource development ministry''s women and child development department highlighting problems of India''s women and children
provides grim statistics about the condition of women in West Bengal.
For instance, the report quotes the International Institute for Population Science survey of 2001 to point out that one of the highest rates of anaemia among married women aged between 15 and 49 years are found in West Bengal -- 62.7 per cent.
"Incidence of anaemia is greater among women due to deep-rooted gender discrimination," observes the report.
This is far worse than the national average of 51.8. Only Assam, Orissa and Mizoram fall behind West Bengal in the category.
In the sphere of female literacy, West Bengal''s claim of being the most developed state rings hollow.
Figures for 2001 show that West Bengal, with only 60 per cent literate women, ranks 19
among 26 states and Union territories. While this figure is admittedly higher than states like Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, it tells a sorry tale, says teachers movement leader
Kartick Saha.
What is possibly the worst is the high rate of dropouts among girls in the state''s schools.
If one takes the overall picture of dropouts among school girls between classes I and X, the dropout figure for West Bengal is as high as 86.14 per cent. In other words over 86 of all girls who ever go to school in West Bengal, drop out by class X. This puts West Bengal as the second worst state in India after Bihar.
When contacted with copies of the report, state health department officials said they did not wish to comment on the matter at all. However, a senior WBCS official in the mass education department said the reports were "not a true reflection of ground realities", adding that West Bengal has taken rapid strides in mass education over the last five years and the rate of dropouts had drastically dropped.