Tolofuaivalelei said the group would meet with officials from the ministry of women each month.

But the chief executive of Samoa's Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development disagrees.

India's Ministry of Women and Child Development declined to comment on the survey results.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The ban is an initiative by the Ministry of Women, working in conjunction with the provincial council.

India's Ministry of Women and Child Development rejected the poll as an "an effort to malign the nation".

In May 2009 the President pronounced on the establishment a Ministry of Women, Children and People with Disabilities (DWCPD).

The Ministry of Women's Affairs said domestic violence in the country of 15 million people has reduced over the past five years.

The agency, which currently sits with the justice ministry , will instead come under a new ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights.

The economic empowerment of women in Fiji can help them escape abusive relationships, Fiji's Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation says.

The chief executive of Samoa's Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development Beth Onesemo said all of the recommendations had been taken on board.

The Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights, responsible for publishing the report, said in a statement the information was left out for technical reasons.

A senior officer of the Ministry of Women said some of the selected families for the programme lived on lease lands around the urban area.

The acting Chief Executive of the Ministry of Women, Culture and Social Development, Louisa Apelu, says the government is still working on the bill's intricacies.

More than 4,000 cases of violence against women and girls were reported to Afghanistan's Ministry of Women's Affairs in 2010-2012, she said.

Photo: 123RF Fiji's Ministry of Women is hoping to encourage more women into science-based study with a four-day camp for 30 girls this week.