Swaraj bats for quota for women

July 16, 2013 19:05

Political power for women is a must for empowerment and the success of women representatives at panchayat level has busted the myth that reservation would do no good, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said today.

She said the BJP-rules states had already increased the seats reserved for women from 33 per cent to 50 per cent and the Centre has followed suit with a bill, reserving half of the seats at panchayat level for women.

When asked why Women Reservation Bill is not being passed in Parliament, she said it is for the government to take it up and her party had already promised to support it.

She called on corporate houses to microfinance woman entrepreneurs as it would be more successful in empowering poor women.

Speaking at a function organised by Assocham on "Challenges for women in modern India in workplace and society", Swaraj said it is ironical that women occupy some of the most important constitutional positions in the country and they are still subjected to ghastly crimes and domestic cruelty.

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar arrested in Swati Maliwal 'assault' case

Bibhav Kumar was produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Goyal who sent him to five-day police custody after the police sought his remand to question him about the incident and to retrieve data from his phone.

Back to back terror attacks in J-K: Ex-sarpanch killed, tourist couple shot at

Terrorists struck at two places in Kashmir on Saturday night, killing a former sarpanch in Shopian and injuring a tourist couple from Rajasthan in Anantnag, two days ahead of Lok Sabha elections in Baramulla.

I dedicate my man of the match award to Dayal: Faf du Plessis

Pacer Yash Dayal kept his cool in a tense final over to seal a 27-run win against Chennai Super Kings and send RCB through to the play-offs.

IPL PIX: Spirited RCB knock out CSK; qualify for play-offs!

A spirited performance from their bowlers saw Royal Challengers Bengaluru outclass Chennai Super Kings by 27 runs to qualify for the play-offs.

Banking industry doyen N Vaghul dies at 88

Veteran banker N Vaghul, who led the transformation of ICICI into a private sector lender, died on Saturday afternoon due to health complications. He was 88. Vaghul took over the reins of ICICI, then a public finance institution, in...