Congress’ Chintan Shivir to dwell deep on women’s safety
11 Jan 2013 7:29 AM IST
Eager to overcome the charge of not having done enough for the safety of women, the Congress party plans to get the much-debated women’s reservation bill passed in the Budget session of Parliament. Sources said Congress president Sonia Gandhi is keen to get the bill, which was re-introduced in the House in 2010, passed in the next session.
Apart from building suitable environment in the support of the bill, other gender issues will dominate the two-day Chintan Shivir of the party, scheduled for second half of January in Jaipur. This will be the first time that a resolution on gender issue will be discussed by the party in its meet. ‘The idea of including resolution on gender issues was taken after the recent gangrape in Delhi,’ said a senior Congress leader.
Prominent women Congress leaders – Ambika Soni, Girija Vyas, environment minister Jayanti Natarajan – and petroleum minister Veerappa Moily have been made part of the panel to draft the resolution. Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh will be the convenor of the draft panel. A resolution on corruption will also be passed at the two-day camp. Despite taking various actions, the UPA government has been unable to battle the charge of being tolerant towards corruption.
The women’s reservation bill in the present form aims at reserving 33 per cent of seats for women in Parliament and state assemblies. The bill has been vehemently opposed by Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). They are demanding quota within quota for women belonging to dalit, backwards classes and minority communities. The bill was first introduced in 1996 by HD Deve Gowda government.
Apart from building suitable environment in the support of the bill, other gender issues will dominate the two-day Chintan Shivir of the party, scheduled for second half of January in Jaipur. This will be the first time that a resolution on gender issue will be discussed by the party in its meet. ‘The idea of including resolution on gender issues was taken after the recent gangrape in Delhi,’ said a senior Congress leader.
Prominent women Congress leaders – Ambika Soni, Girija Vyas, environment minister Jayanti Natarajan – and petroleum minister Veerappa Moily have been made part of the panel to draft the resolution. Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh will be the convenor of the draft panel. A resolution on corruption will also be passed at the two-day camp. Despite taking various actions, the UPA government has been unable to battle the charge of being tolerant towards corruption.
The women’s reservation bill in the present form aims at reserving 33 per cent of seats for women in Parliament and state assemblies. The bill has been vehemently opposed by Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). They are demanding quota within quota for women belonging to dalit, backwards classes and minority communities. The bill was first introduced in 1996 by HD Deve Gowda government.
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