NFIW to launch 'Kerala jatha' for women's quota

Kochi, Nov 11: The National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) will launch a 17-day ''Stree Neethi Sandesh Yatra' across Kerala on November 19 to press for early passage of the Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament.

Prof Meenakshy Thampan, president of the Kerala Mahila Sangham, the state unit of the CPI-affiliated NFIW, said the 'jatha' will start from Kasargod in the north and conclude in Thiruvananthapuram in the south on November 30. Nearly 10,000 women were expected to take part in it, she said.

At the end of the 'jatha', a march would be held to the Raj Bhavan and a memorandum handed over to Governor R L Bhatia, Prof Thampan said at a press conference here today.

A signature campaign would also be launched in support of the bill and the banner will be displayed at a 'dharna' in New Delhi next month.

Stating that assurances on the women's reservation bill had been made with ''boring regularity'' close to every Parliament session, Prof Thampan said ''the time has come for action now.'' The bill, which was first introduced by the Deve Gowda-led United Front Government in 1996 was lying in 'cold storage' even after nearly ten years.

Noting that the UPA's Common Minimum Programme had expressed support for taking up the women's reservation bill, Prof Thampan said it must be taken up in the winter session of Parliament.

There was no justification for the demand for an OBC quota within the women's quota at this point. As of now, seats were reserved in Parliament only for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and not for Other Backward Castes, she said.

On the Election Commission's suggestion that political parties themselves allot 33.3 per cent of election tickets to women, Prof Thampan said this proposal would not work as all political parties were ''male-oriented.''

UNI