Women’s Bill will be tabled this session: Manmohan

All party-meet on March 20 to arrive at a consensus; breakthrough in talks hinted at
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday assured a women’s delegation that the long-pending Women’s Reservation Bill would be tabled in Parliament in the post-recess period of the ongoing budget session.
The group, which included Members of Parliament, had called on him on the occasion of International Women’s Day.
The Prime Minister is said to have told the delegation that an all-party meeting would be convened on March 20 to arrive at a consensus and hinted that there had been some kind of a “breakthrough” in negotiations with other political parties on the issue. “Dr. Singh said he was confident that the Bill would be passed, though he regretted that it had taken so long,” Akhila Sivadas of CFAR told The Hindu.
The Prime Minister made it clear that he would endeavour to see the National Rural Health Mission a success at the end of his government’s five-year-term. “If this mission succeeds in reaching out to women with health care services, then the present government can take the credit for doing something substantial for the women of the country,” she said.
The delegation presented a charter to Dr. Singh demanding that the political class go beyond rhetoric and give 33 per cent representation to women in legislatures and provide gender-sensitive governance.
A similar charter was presented to Vice-President Hamid Ansari who exhorted the women to make the spirit of International Women’s Day an every day phenomenon.
Presenting the charter, Congress Member of Parliament Krishna Tirath said 33 per cent representation in Parliament and Assemblies was a pre-requisite for the empowerment of all sections of women.
Mohini Giri of the Guild of Services said that in the wake of conflict, strife and the ever-widening social divide between the rich and the poor, prayers, petitions and protests were the most powerful instruments that women had to resort to draw attention to their concerns.
All-India Democratic Women’s Association general secretary Sudha Sundararaman said the charter had brought together every concern that was essential to ensure inclusive governance to a woman.
Special Correspondent
The Hindu; Sunday, Mar 09, 2008