India

There have been quite a few woman sarpanches — elected heads villages — in India. But, arguably there have been few like Chhavi Rajawat, the current sarpanch of Soda village in Rajasthan, who left a corporate job to help her ancestral village develop. Ms. Rajawat, who has a management degree, quit her post at Airtel, one of the country’s biggest telecom providers, to bring safe water, power, toilets and education to the village in the western Indian state where she spent part of her childhood.

Change in the mind set of people, especially among the minorities, is necessary to address various issues related to the backwardness of women on various fronts, National Commission for Women chairperson Mamta Sharma said.

Inaugurating the first of the NCW’s regional conferences christened “Voice of the Voiceless”, on the topic Muslim Women: Challenges and Solutions, in Hyderabad on Sunday, Sharma said ignorance of rights has been the undoing of women not only among Muslims but in every community.

The Congress party is revamping its frontal organisation, Women Congress, in a bid to empower grassroots level women party workers politically, socially and economically.

All India Women Congress (AIWC) has been directed to form self-help groups of women members to make them self reliant.

Politically, their credentials will be screened at different levels before their appointment on responsible posts within the organisation.

Against the backdrop of rising crimes against women, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said making laws for their empowerment is not enough as they will have to be implemented properly on ground.

“We realise that by just making laws and announcing policies would not be enough to empower women. Along with it, policies and laws will have to be implemented properly on ground,” she said while addressing a gathering at the launch of the Ahimsa Messenger scheme, under which volunteers will be created to spread awareness on women’s issues.

Interview with Anita Kumaraswamy. Daughter-in-law of the former Prime Minister Deve Gowda and wife of former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, Anita, the JD(S) candidate in the Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha bypoll.

We invite our users to read the complete article published August 18 2013

The women's reservation bill which has been pending for over 17 years should be taken up for discussion in the ongoing monsoon session of the Parliament and be passed before the next general election, demanded women's groups across India on Tuesday.

The All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) will observe demonstration and rallies across the city today to press this demand. The basis of the bill lies in the poor representation of women in state legislatures as well as the Parliament.