For the first time, in the history of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), woman corporators will outnumber men, as the PMC house will have 78 women and 74 male corporators. The state government's decision to hike reservation for women, from 33% to 50%, in all local self-government bodies has changed the political picture in the PMC. The total 152 seats in PMC electoral panels were divided into 76 male and female candidates each. However, two female candidates, Rohini Chimte and Reshma Bhosale, of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) contested and won from general, unreserved seat, taking the woman corporators' tally up to 78.
However, seasoned corporators such as Kamal Vyavahare, former mayor and president of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) women's wing says presence of more women in PMC will change the picture. "Women representation will help to raise the issues concerned with women. Earlier, men dominated the debate and issues discussed were of their interest. This will change now," she said. Taking a cue from the central and state governments, the PMC introduced a gender budget component in the draft budget for 2009-10 for which allocations of Rs 21.96 crore were made. While Rs 1 crore was allocated for women empowerment scheme, Rs 2 crore was allotted for construction of 250 public urinals for women. However, since 2009, the gender budget that is presented in the annual budget has remained on paper. Newly-elected women corporators, after reacting to the victory, insisted that instead of having separate gender budget, the PMC should focus on women and child welfare in the main budget itself.
Read the complete story at The Times of India, published 19 February 2012.
For the first time, in the history of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), woman corporators will outnumber men, as the PMC house will have 78 women and 74 male corporators. The state government's decision to hike reservation for women, from 33% to 50%, in all local self-government bodies has changed the political picture in the PMC. The total 152 seats in PMC electoral panels were divided into 76 male and female candidates each. However, two female candidates, Rohini Chimte and Reshma Bhosale, of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) contested and won from general, unreserved seat, taking the woman corporators' tally up to 78.
However, seasoned corporators such as Kamal Vyavahare, former mayor and president of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) women's wing says presence of more women in PMC will change the picture. "Women representation will help to raise the issues concerned with women. Earlier, men dominated the debate and issues discussed were of their interest. This will change now," she said. Taking a cue from the central and state governments, the PMC introduced a gender budget component in the draft budget for 2009-10 for which allocations of Rs 21.96 crore were made. While Rs 1 crore was allocated for women empowerment scheme, Rs 2 crore was allotted for construction of 250 public urinals for women. However, since 2009, the gender budget that is presented in the annual budget has remained on paper. Newly-elected women corporators, after reacting to the victory, insisted that instead of having separate gender budget, the PMC should focus on women and child welfare in the main budget itself.
Read the complete story at The Times of India, published 19 February 2012.