Caring Administration with Gender-centricity: Interrogating Kanyashree Programme in West Bengal

Abstract

Gender remains an important issue area in governance in post-colonial democracies like India, which have a long past of patriarchal social structure. In West Bengal even after thirty-four years of continuous Left Front rule, gender never became the mainstay of Bengal politics. Trinamul Congress government in West Bengal from 2011 addressed the issue of gender parity perspective. During the period of Mamata Banerjee, as Chief Minister, women candidates were fielded in large numbers while girls were also encouraged to be economically self-dependent and socially aware. Taking policy perspective of women’s empowerment, this article deals with Kanyashree programme. Experience of the last ten years indicates that social violence against women and empowerment-centric progammes go together in creating a puzzle regarding awards received by GoWB on women-centric programmes. This article argues that the degree of inclusiveness of Kanyashree dodges initial politicisation, gradual normalisation and recurring criticisms and translates ‘development as freedom’ in practice in a highly politicised democratic milieu of our time.