Women's Day gift: Women get assurance on Reservation Bill
NEW DELHI, (PTI)
Utilising the occasion of International Women's Day, UPA Chairperson Sonia
Gandhi today said "some way" will be found on the issue of 33 per cent
reservation for women in Lok Sabha and Assemblies as they demanded a greater
role for themselves in economic growth.
"Like panchayats, in Lok Sabha and State legislatures also women should get 33
per cent reservation. Talks are going on with political parties and I am hopeful
that some way will be found," Gandhi said at a function here to honour women
entrepreneurs.
The awards, given by the Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment, were
presented to 25 women belonging to SC, OBCs and Minorities, living below poverty
line, who became successful entrepreneurs.
The day began with women, most of them war widows, holding a prayer meeting at
the historic Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate in the capital with the hope that no
more lives are lost in battle.
NCW, which had declared its theme for this year's Women's Day celebrations as
'women in industry', demanded that the government should focus on ways to
protect the industries where women work in large numbers in the post-WTO era.
"We want the occasion to be utilised for pondering on how to give the industrial
policy a gender perspective, especially in the post-WTO period, and protect the
industries where a large number of women are employed," NCW Member Sudha Malaiya
said.
The Commission is holding a three-day seminar titled 'Women in Industry --
Policies, Problems and Prospects' here from March 16 to 18, in which hundreds of
women entrepreneurs from all over the country as well as top government
officials will ponder on ways to make the industrial policy more
gender-friendly.
The NCW demand comes even as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said
women were "severely excluded" from India's growth and development.
The capital, meanwhile, is also being treated to the best of documentaries made
by Asian women filmmakers covering a range of issues in a three-day festival of
documentaries on the occasion of Women's Day.
In a unique initiative in Kochi in Kerala, a houseboat with an 'all-women' crew,
called `Vanitha' was launched. Only women would be allowed to hire the boat,
state Tourism Minister K C Venugopal sais while inaugurating the service.
In Chennai, a convention on 'Women of Influence' was organised, during which the
'Best Women-Friendly Company Award was also given.
Addressing the convention, India's first woman police officer Kiran Bedi said
one should not forget that in India, a large chunk of women "are in darkness"
and another section is in "twilight."
AICC General Secretary Margaret Alva, who opened the seminar, said women ought
to upgrade their skills if they wanted to leave a mark.
[Deccan Herald, Tuesday, March 08, 2005]
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/mar082005/i14.asp