Women's Day

Women’s Bill: Sonia Gandhi Hopeful of Solution

NEW DELHI: The Congress president, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, on 8 March said talks with various political parties were on to arrive at a consensus on the Women's Reservation Bill, and hoped for an early solution to the issue.

Speaking after presenting awards to women belonging to weaker sections of society to mark the International Women's Day, Smt. Gandhi said she favoured reservation for women in Assemblies and Parliament on the pattern of Panchayati Raj institutions where more than 10 lakh women had been elected across the country. "No nation can progress if women lag behind and I sincerely believe that they should get 33 percent reservation in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha."

Suggesting that granting `pattas' or ownership rights to women could be one way of empowering them, Smt Gandhi called for more gender-sensitive laws and strict implementation of laws related to women.

Ambika Soni, Media Dept. Chief

Ambika Soni, Media Dept. Chief NEW DELHI: The Congress President, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, has appointed Smt. Ambika Soni, general secretary, AICC as the chairperson of the Media Department of the AICC with immediate effect, Shri Janardhan Dwivedi, general secretary, said in a press release here on 4 March, 2005.

Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Sunil Dutt inaugurating ‘national seminar’ in New Delhi on the occasion of centenary celebrations of Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri. Also in the picture is Shri Anil Shastri, special invitee CWC

"Uplift of women should not concern only women. It is the responsibility of society as a whole," Smt. Gandhi said. In a special gesture, Smt. Gandhi walked down from the podium to present an award to Sharda Devi, a physically handicapped woman. Sharda Devi was among the 25 honoured by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

The women are beneficiaries of various schemes run by the Ministry to mainstream the Scheduled castes, Minorities, Other Backward Classes and the physically handicapped.

The Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister, Smt. Meira Kumar, said one of the causes of social inequality was economic weakness, which could be redressed by giving impetus to entrepreneurship among the targeted groups thereby making them self-reliant.

The Ministry had created a few specialized Finance and Development Corporations for the purpose, she said. Those honoured included Sumitra Aswal, Asha Lata, Prema Kumari, Uma Devi, Padma, Mahendari, Suvarna B. Ugale, Bismilla, Pooja Kapoor, Champa Ben, Laxmi, Satya Devi, Bhagwati Bai, Asha Devi, Sakeena, Pushpa Gupta, Nirmala Bai, Reena Rani, Khatija Begum, Hosneara Begum, Shalini Singh, Sona Devi, Uma Negi, Shamshad Bano, and Kumari Sharda.

Among those present were the Prime Minister's wife, Smt. Gursharan Kaur; the Delhi Chief Minister, Smt. Sheila Dixit, Smt. Sheela Gujaral, wife of the former Prime Minister, Shri I.K. Gujaral, several women Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament.