India questions credibility of UN panel over false claims in report
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United Nations: India has challenged the credibility of a United Nations panel whose report on discrimination against women falsely claimed that female community health workers in India do not receive social security benefits.
Speaking at the Interactive Dialogue on the Advancement of Women at the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee, BJP MP Poonamben Maadam said on Friday that the approach of the working group behind the report “is misleading, to say the least, but more gravely, it questions the credibility and veracity of the information and recommendations” it contains.
The committee was reviewing the report by the UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls, which had singled out India with the false assertion.
Highlighting the government’s efforts, Maadam said, “The Accredited Social Health Activist or ASHA program is a cornerstone of India's community health system and is critical to taking basic health care facilities to every village in India.”
She clarified that ASHA workers receive performance-based pay along with social security benefits. “The Prime Minister's pension scheme provides a monthly pension to ASHAs after the age of 60,” she said, adding that they also enjoy annual health coverage of Rs 500,000 and life insurance of Rs 200,000 under the Prime Minister’s insurance schemes.
“I wish the working group had undertaken a proper study before singling out India in the report,” Maadam remarked.
Claudia Flores, a Yale University law professor who chairs the working group, did not address Maadam’s criticism when responding to comments from other participants in the dialogue.
During the same session, Reem Alsalem, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, also made an inaccurate remark about India while discussing surrogacy. She claimed that although altruistic surrogacy is legal in Britain, “British nationals are amongst the most frequent foreign clients in India.”
However, India banned commercial surrogacy and its use by foreigners under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act of 2021. The law now permits only altruistic surrogacy for married Indian couples under strict conditions.