Prez hopes women''s bill will be considered by LS soon

New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) President Pratibha Patil todayexpressed hope that the women''s reservation bill, passed byRajya Sabha, would be considered by the Lok Sabha at theearliest.

"I hope sincerely that it (women''s bill) will beconsidered by the Lok Sabha at the earliest," she said in heraddress to a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament.

"The government also proposed to introduce a bill toprotect children from sexual offences," she said, adding thatthe Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at WorkplaceBill has also been introduced in Parliament.

For the aged and the needy, the President said an old-agepension scheme for workers in the unorganised sector -Swavalamban - has been launched by the government.

Expressing hope that all parties across the politicalspectrum would support the need for electoral reforms, shesaid a national conference on electoral reforms would be heldin April this year in a bid to evolve a consensus on anacceptable agenda of reforms.

Noting that the government gave high priority to improvethe delivery of justice and reduce delays in disposal ofcases, Patil said the details of the National Mission forDelivery of Justice and Legal Reforms would be finalised soon.

"This should result in re-engineering of procedures,improving of human resources in this sector and leveraging ofinformation technology," she said, adding that the JudicialStandards and Accountability Bill, already introduced inParliament, was aimed at enhancing accountability of thejudiciary.