The Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013), administered by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, has many provisions intending to nurture a safe, secure and non-discriminating environment for women at workplace.

2^nd Proviso to the Section 149 of the Companies Act read with Rule 3 of Companies (Appointment and Qualification of Directors) Rules, 2014, makes it mandatory for every listed company and every other public company having paid up share capital of Rs. 100 crore or more or having turnover of Rs. 300 crore or more to appoint at least one woman director.

Specified companies in its Board Report, to be attached with the Financial Statement filed annually, has to include a statement that the company has complied with provisions relating to the constitution of Internal Complaints Committee under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 [14 of 2013]

Further, the Government has taken a number of initiatives to support women employees and women owned enterprises, as follows:

• To support women entrepreneurs under Credit Guarantee Scheme for Micro and Small Enterprises, additional benefits has been given to women than to the other entrepreneurs.
• Under Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), which is a major credit-linked subsidy program in which the substantial beneficiaries are women who are provided higher subsidy viz-a-viz nonspecial category 
• Stand-Up India (SUI) Scheme has the objective to facilitate loans from Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) of value between Rs. 10 lakh and Rs. 1 crore to at least one Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) borrower and one women borrower per bank branch for setting up greenfield enterprise.
• An initiative namely "Yashasvini”, was launched on 27.06.2024, which aims to campaign for women entrepreneurs and empower women by building their capacity, with a focus in Tier-II/III towns.

● The Code on Social Security, 2020 and the Code on Wages, 2019 have provisions regarding maternity benefits to women workers and non-discrimination on grounds of gender respectively. 

● The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (SH Act) provides a legislative framework for prevention of sexual harassment at workplace. The Act provides for constitution of Internal Committee (IC) where the number of employees is 10 or more and also mandates for constitution of Local Committee (LC) by the District Officer notified under the Act to deal with the cases of workplaces where the number of employees is less than 10 or when the complaint is against the employer itself.

• In order to provide for a centralized platform for details of ICs and LCs available in the country as well as for providing a platform to the aggrieved woman to file her complaint, a revamped version Sexual Harassment electronic–Box (SHe-Box) was launched by Government on 29.08.2024. This is an effort of Government of India to provide a single window access to every woman, irrespective of her work status, whether working in organised or unorganised, private or public sector, to facilitate the registration of complaint related to sexual harassment. 
• Under Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017, Section 11(a) stipulates that every establishment having fifty or more employees shall have the facility of creche. 

● To facilitate working mothers in giving due care and protection to their children, ‘Palna’- a Centrally Sponsored Scheme was introduced w.e.f. 01 April 2022, for providing day care facilities and protection to children. 

The Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Shri Harsh Malhotra stated this in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

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