Having ensured the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha, UPA-2 in its “Report to the People” released here this evening said that political empowerment is a powerful and indispensable tool for eliminating gender inequality and discrimination.
This is part of the government’s agenda of social inclusion.
The report card also took note of the 50 per cent reservation that has been provided to women in the three-tiers of the panchayat. It also said that a bill has been introduced in the Lok Sabha to provide a 50 per cent quota to women in urban local bodies.
On the food security front, the report card has assured that the government is committed to the enactment of the national Food Security Act.
It said that the draft National Food Security Bill is being prepared and will be placed in the public domain for scrutiny and comments.
The report also said that the government launched a National Mission for Empowerment of Women in March this year with the aim of achieving inter-sectoral convergence of all pro-women or women centric programmes cutting across ministries and departments, states and panchayati raj institutions (PRIs).