State s Role in Women s Empowerment-For Better or for Worse

In the three years since a fact-finding team enquired into the practices and policies of the Women's Development Programme of Rajasthan and pointed out the contradictions between its stated purpose and actual practice, conditions of work for its many 'workers' have deteriorated. The programme's focus has imperceptibly shifted from empowerment of women to functioning as an extension programme for state policies especially those motivated by the New Economic Policy.