NEW DELHI, APRIL 24: After implementing 33 per cent reservation for women in panchayati raj institutions on April 24 1993, the passage of the Women's Bill for one-third reservation in State Assemblies and Parliament has been delayed on some pretext or the other, Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit said today.``But I am convinced that with the 21st century knocking on the door, this dream too will be fulfilled and the coming millennium will see the rule of women,'' she said at a Women's Political Empowerment Day celebration held in Delhi. Dikshit presented `Outstanding Woman Sarpanch 1999' award to Sudha K Patel, the blind sarpanch of Anand district in Gujarat. Two others selected were Fatima Bee of Kurnool district in AP who recently received the UNDP's Race Against Poverty Award and Gundia Bai of Tikamgarh in MP, the first Dalit woman sarpanch to challenge upper-caste male authority.
