A day after major UPA allies opposed the Women’s Reservation Bill in its present form, Prime minister Manmohan Singh today expressed the hope that the government would soon be able to build a consensus on the issue.Addressing a national conference here on ‘Women’s Role in Nation Building—From Panchayat to Parliament’, Singh said, ‘‘We are building a consensus on the issue of reserving 33 per cent seats in Parliament and state legislatures for women. I am confident that we will succeed.’’Pointing out that the experience with such a reservation at the Panchayat level has been encouraging, the PM said, ‘‘The time has come for us to scale this experiment up to the national level,’’ Singh said.The PM added that a million women were elected to Panchayats every five years. ‘‘This large-scale mobilisation of women in the public life of our country is an unprecedented event. It is the most important political intervention aimed at the empowerment of women anywhere in the world.’’UPA’s Common Minimum Programme recognised the need for the political, legal, educational and economic empowerment of women, said Singh, adding that it was one of the key principles of governance.‘‘No nation can stand proud if it discriminates against any of its citizens. Certainly no society can claim to be part of the modern civilised world unless it treats its women on par with men. The time for genuine and full empowerment of women is here and now. This is an idea whose time has come, but whose realisation we must now ensure,’’ said Singh.Singh said that ‘‘gender responsive legislation’’ and ‘‘gender responsive budgeting’’ initiated by the government would go a long way in making governance more ‘‘gender sensitive’’.‘‘We are pursuing legislation that will provide flexibility in working hours to women and encourage women’s employment in the industrial and services sector,’’ he said, adding that a bill on protection from domestic violence has been passed to empower women.Speaking at the conference organised by the Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB), Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh said time has come for the implementation of measures to empower women. He said that it was unfortunate that some people considered empowering women as a challenge to their rights.
