New Delhi, July 9: The Centre has made the presence of one woman member mandatory on every selection board or committee in its departments, whether the recruitment is of sweepers or civil servants.

The move is meant to ensure women are not discriminated against in government jobs, and is in keeping with the policy of a dispensation that has given the country its first woman President and first woman Lok Sabha Speaker.

The order was issued by the department of personnel and training late last evening to the secretaries of all ministries, departments, the Union Public Service Commission and the Staff Selection Committee. It asked them to instruct all appointing authorities “to scrupulously observe the following guidelines”.

The guidelines say there must be a woman member on every selection board or panel handling 10 or more vacancies. Even if the number of vacancies is less than 10, “no efforts should be spared in finding a lady officer for inclusion in such committees/boards”.

To pre-empt excuses, the circular makes it clear that “lady candidates are expected to be available for the post”. In case a woman official is not available in a particular department, the guidelines say a woman official from any other office has to be nominated.

The circular says the women members on the selection boards and panels will monitor the trend in recruitment of women. “The purpose is to make mandatory the representation of women in government just the way we have one Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe member on the selection committees,” a source in the personnel department said.

Plugging more holes, the Centre wants wide publicity for all vacancies in government jobs.

“Advertisements should be issued in the language(s) spoken by a large number of people of the state/Union territories, apart from English and Hindi,” the circular says.

Further, for Group C posts, which require only basic qualifications, information about vacancies should be aired through local schools and colleges in addition to the usual channels like newspaper ads.

Survey deadline

The Centre has set a deadline to determine the number of its women employees across the country.

All central government departments have been asked to hand in, by August 31, a report on the total number of posts and employees “group-wise and gender-wise” as of March 31.

A fresh report must be submitted by May 30 every following year, describing the position as of March 31 of that year, so the Centre can monitor the trend in recruitment of women.