Sonia Defeated the Brahminical Left Pushing Pranab Mukherjee Indian Holocaust My father`s Life and Time -Two Hundred

Sonia Defeated the Brahminical Left Pushing Pranab Mukherjee

Indian Holocaust My father`s Life and Time -Two Hundred twenty Nine


Palash Biswas


Well, friends! I wrote for Woman President in my article titled ` Next President Woman!’ You have to accept, Sonia Gandhi makes history as her late husband Rajeev Gandhi made. Rajeev ensured reservation for women in Panchayati raj. Sonia makes a lady the ruling UPA candidate for the Next President dissmissing Marxist ploys! Nearly three years ago, Pratibha Patil became the first woman Governor of Rajasthan and, after her selection as UPA nominee for the post of President, she could break the male dominance at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.The Left's three conditions, including that of a political heavyweight, who could take on Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, seems to have fallen by the wayside when confronted with a politically correct gender choice.

The country has already had a female prime minister, with Indira Gandhi, the daughter of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, ruling India from 1966 to 1977 and from 1980 to 1984, coming to be known as India's "iron lady."

CPI-M General Secretary's Prakash Karat also said Pratibha Patil had all the necessary credentials to be the next President.

The Left's first choice Pranab Mukherjee appealed to all parties, including the opposition to support and elect the country's first woman President.

Pratibha Patil's choice as UPA's presidential candidate took the nation by surprise considering the high profile nature of Shivraj Patil, who lost the race only because of the resistance put up by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and its allies.Lreft was determined to make Bengali Kuleen Brahmin Pranab mukherjee the next citizen. First, they dismissed second term of Kalam. Then, suddenly CPI leader Vardhan suggested that the next president should be a woman. No one take it as seriously and the most vocal advocate of women`s empowerment, CPIM projected Pranab dismissing Vardhan`s suggestion. The marxist also dismiised their patriarch Comrade jyoti Basu and the Loksabha speaker somnath Chatterjee , eying on Bengal Brahminical dominance for which they did not allow Jyoti Babu become Prime minister of India! With Mayawati and karunanidhidhi`s support Sonia Gandhi defeated the lefitists and they have no way but to support the UPA candidate!
Although the Left never said publicly that it was opposed to Shivraj Patil, communist sources let it be known that they doubted the secular credentials of the minister who is known to be a devotee of Sathya Sai Baba, a leading godman based in Puttaparthi town in Andhra Pradesh.Once it was evident that Shivraj Patil would not be able to make it to the presidential palace, the names of Power Minister SushilKumar Shinde and Congress veteran Karan Singh were brandied about. But pro-Left sources hinted that they disapproved of even Karan Singh, the scion of Kashmir's royal family.The Left remained adamant on blocking names it did not like even after Karunanidhi announced that he would go with anyone the Congress chose as its presidential nominee.

Left is red faced once again as it had been in Kolkata! The ladies hold on. Mamata Bannerjee remains the greatest political challange for the capitalist Marxists. Mahasweta Devi, Arundhuti Roy,
Aparna sen, Saoli Mitra, anuradha Talwar , Medha Patekar and the women of Singur, Nandigram and gurgaon lead the antiSEZ, antiMNC, antiglobalisation resistance.Protests in Orissa and West Bengal have forced the authorities on the backfoot, and the approval and notification of SEZs have almost come to a standstill.On the other hand, in Kolkata, Citing legal hurdles, the West Bengal government Thursday said the opposition demand for returning the land acquired from unwilling farmers for the Tata Motors small car project in Singur could not be met.The decision was taken at the core committee meeting of the state cabinet here, even as Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee vowed to intensify the fight for recovering the land.Public Works Department Minister Kshiti Goswami said Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had informed the cabinet of the decision.Bhattacharya said the land acquired for the Tata project could not be returned as there are legal hurdles and the boundary wall has also been constructed.He told the core committee that Commerce and Industry Minister Nirupam Sen had informed veteran Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Jyoti Basu that it would not be possible to return the land.

However, the cabinet was informed that an alternative proposal was being worked out. It, however, could not be made public as the Singur land acquisition issue is sub-judice and the Calcutta High Court is expected to hear the matter shortly.

Basu, who had a meeting with Banerjee on June 4 to find a solution to both Singur and Nandigram issues, had said the state government should look into her demands. Both leaders had then expressed confidence on reaching an amicable settlement.

Reacting to Thursday's decision, Banerjee said: 'We will fight for the return of the land.

'Marxists have joined hands with Tatas to grab the land of farmers. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya does not know the basics of land acquisition,' she said. Earlier, Banerjee threatened to move the highest court to fight for the farmers' land rights.

Over 997 acres of land in Singur have been chosen by Tata Motors for its small car project. The issue has triggered a violent face-off between the government and farmers led by civil society groups and parties like the Trinamool Congress.


On the other hand, in Kolkata, Citing legal hurdles, the West Bengal government Thursday said the opposition demand for returning the land acquired from unwilling farmers for the Tata Motors small car project in Singur could not be met.The decision was taken at the core committee meeting of the state cabinet here, even as Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee vowed to intensify the fight for recovering the land.Public Works Department Minister Kshiti Goswami said Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had informed the cabinet of the decision.Bhattacharya said the land acquired for the Tata project could not be returned as there are legal hurdles and the boundary wall has also been constructed.He told the core committee that Commerce and Industry Minister Nirupam Sen had informed veteran Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Jyoti Basu that it would not be possible to return the land.

However, the cabinet was informed that an alternative proposal was being worked out. It, however, could not be made public as the Singur land acquisition issue is sub-judice and the Calcutta High Court is expected to hear the matter shortly.

Basu, who had a meeting with Banerjee on June 4 to find a solution to both Singur and Nandigram issues, had said the state government should look into her demands. Both leaders had then expressed confidence on reaching an amicable settlement.

Reacting to Thursday's decision, Banerjee said: 'We will fight for the return of the land.

'Marxists have joined hands with Tatas to grab the land of farmers. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya does not know the basics of land acquisition,' she said. Earlier, Banerjee threatened to move the highest court to fight for the farmers' land rights.

Over 997 acres of land in Singur have been chosen by Tata Motors for its small car project. The issue has triggered a violent face-off between the government and farmers led by civil society groups and parties like the Trinamool Congress.

And finally, in a country where Parliament can't agree on women's reservation, is this choice in the end, motivated by sheer political tokenism?


Welcome! India appears set to get first woman president !With support from the left and from the new female chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, Patil, who is in her early seventies, has a good shot at becoming India's first woman president, a political expert said.
Sonia gandhi suddenly reminds us the glimps of Mrs Indira gandhi annihilating opposition. She played the trump card so well to discard the dangerous Sanghi projection of a strong personality like Bhairon singh Shekhawat! India's ruling coalition announced Thursday it was giving the country its first woman president by declaring the candidature of Pratibha Patil, the Rajasthan governor but not a high profile politician, after an adamant Left refused to back Home Minister Shivraj Patil's candidature.

Pratibha Patil, a Rajput, is married to a Maratha, Devisingh Ranisingh Shekhawat.
It was clear that Pratibha Patil's choice was also related to the fact that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was going to prop up Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, a veteran politician who has served as chief minister of Rajasthan, for the presidential elections due July 19.It was all in a day's work. On Thursday morning, Home Minister Shivraj Patil woke up as the frontrunner to be the government's choice for President by six in the evening.He was replaced by another Patil but of a different gender and caste - Pratibha Patil, Rajasthan Governor, who could go down in the history books as possibly the first woman President of India.
The decision probably also came as a surprise to the Rajasthan Governor who rushed back to Jaipur from Mt Abu. So what happened in the hours in between? The Left flexed its powerful muscle, telling the go-between M Karunanidhi that they would not accept Shivraj Patil as President.
This, despite the fact that every other ally had fallen in line with the not-so-gentle persuasion of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

If elected, the 72-year-old soft-spoken Congress leader from Maharashtra will be the nation's 12th president. All the previous occupants of Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential palace, have been men, including incumbent A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who steps down next month after an eventful five-year tenure.She was six times cabinet minister in Maharashtra, has been member of both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, and in 2004 was named the Rajasthan governor, a post she holds now.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who for days had been at the centre of the intense parleys over picking a nominee of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), made the formal announcement saying it was a 'historic moment' for India.Gandhi said the decision was arrived at 'through the process of consultations' involving the multi-party UPA, the Left and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which together command an overwhelming majority in the electoral college that elects the president.Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi played a key role after the Left put its foot down. Karunanidhi, speaking to NDTV said the decision to choose a woman candidate was a collective one.



Thursday was a day of hectic political activity in the national capital, with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi playing the critical mediator's role after flying in from Chennai late Wednesday to bridge what at one seemed were irreconcilable differences between the Congress and the Left.
It was the veteran DMK leader who indicated in the evening that there was consensus on 'a woman candidate'. In no time, Congress sources made it known that the person was Pratibha Patil, a politician-cum-social activist from Jalgaon in Maharashtra who has held a variety of posts both in the state and elsewhere since taking to politics way back in 1962.


Early Thursday, Karunanidhi held discussions with Left leaders and then met Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi. He again got in touch with the Left, leading to a joint meeting of the Left and UPA where Pratibha Patil's name was picked.


Amid the UPA confusion, the BJP-led NDA was preparing to put up a strong fight, by probably fielding Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Shekhawat is known to have wide connections among India's political class and could be counted to draw votes even from sections of the UPA, making him a formidable contestant.



Pratibha Patil is UPA-Left nominee while Mamata dismisses Buddha`s stand on Singur land. On Tuesday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi crossed the first of two main hurdles in securing the support of parties that back the United Progressive Alliance from outside. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati formally extended her unconditional support to the UPA nominee whose name, she said, would be disclosed by Sonia Gandhi. But the Left parties continue to hold out.

Kolkata:The Trinamool Congress has refused to accept the West Bengal government's argument that land taken from unwilling farmers in Singur for a Tata Motors' project cannot be returned and said the matter can be sorted out if there is political will to do so.

"The land acquired from unwilling farmers in Singur must be returned to them. We will fight for the return of the land," Trinamool Chief Mamata Banerjee said.

Her reaction came shortly after Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, during a core committee meeting of the state cabinet, turned down the Trinamool's demand that land acquired forcibly from farmers be returned. He also said an alternative proposal was being worked out by the government.
Accusing the Chief Minister of "distorting facts and misleading the people", Banerjee told PTI: "Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee does not know the ABC of land acquisition. If the State government has the political will, the matter can still be sorted out.

"It is clear the Marxist government has been hand in glove with big money, represented by the Tatas and multinational companies, to take away fertile agricultural land from the poor farmers and gift it to them."

Emerging from the core committee meeting, in which both the Singur and Nandigram issues figured, PWD Minister Kshiti Goswami quoted Bhattacharjee as having told the meet that "land acquired for the Tata project cannot be returned". There are legal hurdles and a boundary wall was constructed at the site in Singur, he told reporters.

• Presidential election: Who votes and how
The President of India is elected by an electoral college, comprising the Members of both the Houses of Parliament as well as the MLAs of all state Assemblies. The total number of members in the Electoral College for the Presidential elections in 2007 is 4896 (233 Rajya Sabha MPs + 543 Lok Sabha MPs + 4,120 State MLAs).


New Delhi: Pratibha Patil, the Governor of Rajasthan, was on Thursday, chosen as the nominee of the UPA-Left combine for the Presidential election. Announcing her candidature after a meeting of the Left-UPA coordination committee, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi called it a "historic moment" in the 60th year of the republic.Gandhi said a coordination committee will be set up to ensure the victory of the 72-year-old Congress leader from Maharashtra in the election. She expressed gratitude to the UPA's partners for working together in this regard. She made the announcement in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, at whose residence the Left-UPA coordination committee met.

The meeting was attended, among others, by DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, senior Left leaders Prakash Karat, Abani Roy and A B Bardhan, RJD chief Lalu Prasad and NCP president Sharad Pawar.

Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who was the Congress' first choice for the post, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who was backed by the Left, and HRD Minister Arjun Singh were also present at the meeting.



A qualified lawyer from Maharashtra, 72-year-old Patil has a wealth of experience as a politician and administrator having held key positions in Maharashtra unit of Congress, ministerial portfolios before occupying the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson's post for about two years from November 1986.

Nearly eight years after her tenure as Lok Sabha member had ended in 1996, Patil, a staunch of Nehru-Gandhi family and a non-controversial personality, had gone into a virtual political wilderness before she was brought in as Rajasthan Governor in November 2004.

Born on December 19, 1934 in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra, Patil practised as a lawyer in Jalgaon before joining politics.

She was a member of Maharashtra assembly from 1962 to 1985 during which she was a minister holding portfolios like urban development and housing education, tourism, parliamentary affairs, public health and social welfare, cultural affairs, working her way up from the rank of deputy minister to cabinet as also in Congress hierarchy.

Patil also has the experience of being a leader of the opposition when Sharad Pawar, as the head of Purogami Lok Dal, became Maharshtra Chief Minister for the first time in July 1979.

: DMK President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Thursday made it clear that his party would support a Congress candidate in the Presidential election. Race for Rashtrapati Bhavan.He also expressed confidence that a consensus will be evolved in the UPA over its Presidential nominee and made it clear that his party.

"Yes, definitely," Karunanidhi shot back in English when asked by reporters if his party would support a Congress candidate.

"I have confidence (over evolving a consensus)", he told the media before leaving for his meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for consultations on the issue after a round of discussions with Left party leaders including Prakash Karat and A B Bardhan On Thursday morning.

"If there was one I would have said it," Karunanidhi said when he was asked whether a consensus would be arrived at on the three names that appeared in the newspapers today ? Shivraj Patil, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Karan Singh ? as the ruling coalition's Presidential candidate.

Asked whether the candidate would belong to Congress or other some other party, he said "It is a Congress candidate".

Let me allow to quote from my article posted on Sunday, May 6th, 2007
Next President Woman!
Palash Biswas

“Did anybody say action? I know what we should do - get our women cadre to show their backsides to this ’special’ fact-finding team!" said an excited Benoy Konar, who despite his age still had the spring of a street urchin about him. He was famous for blowing hammer and sickle rings with his beedi smoke- a cool comrade at 75.

“I run the women’s wing, you get Laxman’s goons to do whatever they want" hissed Brinda, the bindi now a fiery red. She didn’t like this old fogy stepping on her turf.

“Laxman’s men had better watch out around Chairman Mao comrades! He still wears his spiked boots from the Long March", piped up someone in the room.

At this point Buddhadeb woke up with a jolt on his bed. The mobile phone was ringing loudly. He was sweating all over. Phew! What a nightmare it had been! From Marx to Mao in Nandigram indeed!
Buddha picked up the phone, “Salim, is that you?"
http://www.countercurrents.org/sagar010507.htm

Why not a woman President, asks CPI!

Somnath is emerging frontrunner for next President and RJD wants Jyoti Basu in raisina Hills!
How do we judge this statement of a vital Left Partner? Does CPI protest these two CPIM Big Brothers and playing a surgical politics using all fairness?

The Communist Party of India (CPI), undeterred by its ally CPI (M) denying a review of Left support to the UPA government, attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on two fronts on Saturday.

Party general secretary AB Bardhan said the PM has failed to “measure up" to Left’s expectations and would have to share his part of the blame for the anti-poor economic policies that the UPA seemed to be following. He was speaking in an interview on CNN/IBN’s “Devil’s Advocate" programme on Saturday evening.

Earlier in the day, Bardhan had some scathing criticism in store for the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) – the prime minister’s brainchild – for its alleged pro-US slant and demanded a complete overhauling of the Commission.

In the interview, Bardhan said Singh “can’t avoid the blame" for economic policies pursued by the government and accused Finance Minister P Chidambaram of “helping only a coterie." He said the PM was very much a part of the economic policies being implemented and asserted that both the Finance Minister and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia have Singh’s blessings.
They have been fighting for reservation for women in Legislature. You know the result.
They have ensured ladies` quota in Panchayts and corporation, local bodies. The result you know. the male relatives enjoy the power! Legislature quota would mean greater control of Ruling classes in affairs relating lawmaking , all in the name of Woman`s Empowerment.

What is the Reality of Indian Society as far as the existance of woman is concerned? A Taslima Nasrin or a Prabha Khetan may answer best.
Would they like to have a lady like mahashweta Devi or Medha Patekar as the next President?
Or would they like an Ash, a Shilpa, a Mandira to be the wonderful showpiece in Rashtrapati Bahwan!

We have seen in Nandigram and singur! How the progressive Left treat Woman! And they now a Woman President! Have you read the news that Tigress Mamata bannerjeehas announced plans to parade outside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence women who were allegedly raped by communist cadres in Nandigram!

Not Only this, on Saturday the constituency of Chief Minister Buddhadev witnessed how the Gestapo behaves with Women! Principal and Five teachers with more than tenstudents of Vivekanand Girls` School, Jadavpur, Kolkata were thrashed by CPIM cadres! The ladies were kept hostage for hours. The local committee leader of the party defines that it was a protest by the guardians!

Recent Studies on Indian Women: Empirical Work of Social Scientists
http://www.akhilbooks.com/frmsingleProductDet.aspx?id=11710
Maya's support priced at Rs 70K cr








Divya Manu Chaudhary
CNN-IBN
P\
MONEY MATTERS: Mayawati has said that there is no difference of opinion between UPA and her party.

New Delhi: The two most powerful women in India - Mayawati and Congress President Sonia Gandhi - met to try and agree on a favourite for the Rashtrapati Bhavan over a power-packed dinner at Mayawati's house in Delhi. That their dialogue lasted two hours meant that the friendship between Congress and BSP has begun taking roots. Mayawati was frank about her support for the UPA presidential nomineeShe said that there was no difference of opinion between her party, BSP, and the UPA.Though Mayawati has openly indicated support for the UPA candidate in the upcoming Presidential elections, there is a catch.It's all about give and take is what the BSP supremeo seems to be suggesting. Despite being let off in the Taj Corridor case by the Central Government just a few days ago, Mayawati wants a little bit more to assure her support to the UPA in the upcoming presidential elections.The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister is looking for ample compensation in return for this support.


Sources have told CNN-IBN that Mayawati is looking for a massive allocation of funds from the Centre for Uttar Pradesh worth nearly Rs 70,000 crore. She is likely to meet the Prime Minister and the Planning Commission chief, Montek Singh Ahluwalia in this context.


This will assure the BSP's 58,000 votes in the UPA's kitty for the presidential elections.


Statement by Women's Voice and National Federation of Dalit Women
Presented by Ruth Nanorama
http://www.aworc.org/bpfa/gov/escap/wv_nfdw.html

Under Agenda Item5 (b) on the Rights-Based Approach to the Empowerment of Women, at the ESCAP High Level Meeting for Beijing +5; October 28, 1999


Dear Chairperson and Distinguished Participants, Sisters,

While we are committing and reaffirming our hopes of the Beijing Platform for Action into concrete actions that help us move from injustice and inequality, we are bringing one of the vital concerns of women's human rights from our sub-continent, namely that of 'Dalit' Women, the 'Untouchables' to your attention.

They constitute about 250 million people and half of them are women, the most marginalised in the caste hierarchy of our societies. Among the large-scale violations of human rights perpetrated on Dalit people are the burning of their homes and fields, murder, torture and assault of women, molestation and rape, and deaths in custody. These occur in spite of Constitutional guarantees abolishing untouchability and ensuring protection of the human rights of all Indian citizens. Victims of bonded labour, child labour, prostitution and of the Devadasi system (sexual slaves dedicated to temples) are drawn largely from Dalit communities. Dalits live in separate colonies, cut off and distanced from other communities and localities. Even today, inter-caste marriages lead to large-scale violence. Dalits do not have access to public wells, or to public eating-places. They have to use separate glasses for drinking tea or coffee at village restaurant in some states of India. Atrocities and violence against Dalits basically arise in the context of 'keeping Dalits' in their place, within the social hierarchy mediated by caste and untouchability. These forms of violence amount to racial discrimination.

The growing self-awareness and self-reliance of Dalits promoted by the government's policy of reservations, renaissance ideologies within the Dalit community, participation of Dalits in struggles for recognition and so on have threatened the vested interests and privileges of the hitherto dominant non-Dalit castes. Raising consciousness of Dalits and their resistance on a wide range of issues such as distribution of surplus state land, minimum wages, dignity and justice have led to brutal caste-based violence and massacres against Dalits and Dalit women in particular.

The oppressed Dalit people confront barbaric atrocities and violence, denial of their basic needs and land rights, infringement of civil liberties and most important of all denial of their status as human beings. They live with dehumanising living and working conditions, impoverishment, malnutrition and poor health conditions, a high level of illiteracy and continuing social ostracism. Despite the existence of Constitutional rights and other protective laws which are meant to address their problems, Dalit communities continue to live in extreme poverty, perform menial and low-paid jobs such as scavenging and suffer >from the lack of access to basic amenities and resources. We strongly feel that the denial of such basic needs is a gross violation of the social and economic rights of the Dalit people.

We strongly recognise that the Dalit women are thrice alienated on the basis of their class, caste and gender. The Dalit women have to grapple with discrimination due to caste hierarchy and untouchability on the one hand, and extreme deprivation and poverty on the other, as well as with political, legal and religio-cultural discrimination.

We therefore urge this august Assembly to

recognise the concerns and aspirations of the most marginalized women of the region, such as Dalit women, and to evolve effective policies and programmes to approach the human rights of such marginalized groups in a holistic manner;
recognise 'Dalit rights as Human Rights' and give equal status to the 250 million individuals who represent this section of humanity in our society;
take steps to explicitly and Constitutionally guarantee equal rights to Dalit people in all the countries of the Asian region where they are presently domiciled;
to act with greater force and with political will to bring to book those who perpetrate acts of violence against Dalit people, both state and non-state actors, and to deal stringently with all incidents of caste-based violence.
Ensuring that justice must be done to Dalit people, and especially to Dalit women, should, we urge, be a primary concern of this meeting, in keeping with the commitments to equality and human dignity set out in the Beijing Platform for Action.

Thank you.

Mrs. Ruth Manorama

Voice of Women; National Federation of Dalit Women, Asian Women's Human Rights Council.

Towards the empowerment of Indian women

Women's property right

From time immemorial, the women in this land of ours were treated as a sort of thing. Her placing in the society was not at par with other human being. She has no rights. She cannot move nor do anything at her will. In Hindu Shastras, she has been branded just like animals. From the verses of Ramayan as written by Mr. Tulsi Das, " Dhol, ganwar, shudra, pashu, naari- Ye sab tadan ke adhikari," one may easily draw inferences as to what status has been granted to our mothers. Similarly, we can understand that of Dropadi of Mahabharata was reduced to the status of a bitch, as she was the wife of five husbands (Pandwas). She was not only, the wife of five husbands; she put at stake in gambling by none else than the so called Dharmraj Yudhishthar! In 'Manusmrati' the ancient Hindu Code-book, the status granted to women is quite visible and she was put to the lowest rug of humanity as she was treated at par with the animals and slave by the proprietors of Hindu Dharma. Such was the placement earmarked to our mothers, sisters and even great grand mothers that the heads of humanity bend upon down with shame!

That is why Dr. Ambedkar was of the firm opinion that until or unless, by applying dynamite, the Hindu Dharma-shastras are not blown up, nothing is going to happen. In the name sanskaras, the Hindu women are tied up with the bondage of superstitions, which they carry till their death. They are also responsible for inculcating these wrong notions learnt by them through baseless traditions and preaching of the Shastras in the budding minds of their offspring.

Otherwise also the women in India have remained a matter of joy and a source of amusement as such she was used and misused by men just to serve their evil ends. She has been used just like a machine for procreation. It has also been mentioned in Hindu Shastras that the woman is the bond slave of her father when she was young, to her husband when she is middle aged and to her son when she is a mother. Of course, all the epigrams, aphorisms, proverbs, platitudes and truisms bear necked truth about the stature of women in India.

It does not mean that no efforts have been made in the past to bring dignity to women. As in Europe, Christianity inaugurated the Era of equality, liberty and fraternity by preaching that a prince and pauper are equal in the eyes of God. There is also a very long tradition of social reforms by our saints and other social reformers. But the proprietors of the orthodoxy thwarted these efforts. In the absence of any legal sanction or authority, these efforts could not sustain.

In this direction Dr. B.R. Ambedkar has tried to brake down the barriers in the way of advancement of women in India. He laid down the foundation of concrete and sincere efforts by codifying the common Civil Code for the Hindus and the principle is capable of extension to other sections of the Indian society. Prior to these efforts of Dr. Ambedkar, the destiny of the Indian women depended upon the wrong notions and perceptions chalked out by the proprietors of orthodoxy.

See the Full Story: http://www.ambedkar.org/bss/Towardsthe.htm

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN
(2001)
http://wcd.nic.in/empwomen.htmIntroduction

The principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Indian Constitution in its Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties and Directive Principles. The Constitution not only grants equality to women, but also empowers the State to adopt measures of positive discrimination in favour of women.

Within the framework of a democratic polity, our laws, development policies, Plans and programmes have aimed at women’s advancement in different spheres. From the Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-78) onwards has been a marked shift in the approach to women’s issues from welfare to development. In recent years, the empowerment of women has been recognized as the central issue in determining the status of women. The National Commission for Women was set up by an Act of Parliament in 1990 to safeguard the rights and legal entitlements of women. The 73rd and 74th Amendments (1993) to the Constitution of India have provided for reservation of seats in the local bodies of Panchayats and Municipalities for women, laying a strong foundation for their participation in decision making at the local l