Udupi: The ‘Mahila Shakti; district-level Women Congress convention to prepare for the Zilla and Taluk Panchayat elections in the district was held at the Town Hall Ajjarkad, here on Saturday February 13.
The convention began with Vande Matharam, Veronica Cornelio president of Udupi district Women Congress welcomed the gathering and explained the purpose of the convention.
Veerappa Moily former Chief Minister of Karnataka and also MP of Chikkaballapur inaugurated the convention by lighting the lamp.
In his inaugural message Veerappa Moily said that the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, laid the foundation for local self government. The importance of Panchayat Raj Act passed during the tenure of Rajiv Gandhi could not be exaggerated. The government passed Panchayat Raj Act through 73rd and 74th amendments in 1992-93. It was this Act which had also led to the empowerment of women.
In Karnataka the Siddaramaiah led congress government introduced a comprehensive amendment bill in the assembly, seeking to strengthen the panchayat system by delegating greater administrative and financial powers to them. A majority of the recommendations of the K R Ramesh Kumar committee set up to bring in reforms in the panchayat system, he added.
Congress government in the State is also working towards empowering women and has introduced measures for the safety of women. The Congress government introduced 50% reservation for women in the elections. 50% reservation for women will strengthen women in developing panchayats. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has failed to keep promises made during the Lok Sabha elections.
Referring to the issue of Indian black money stashed abroad, he said the Prime Minister has also failed to fulfil his another promise of bringing back the money and “transferring Rs 15 lakh each” from the recovered amount to the bank account of every citizen. Narendra Modi has been enlightened over the success of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) now, he said that Modi who came to power on providing ‘acche din’ to the citizens, has failed to do good to the people.
Before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Narendra Modi promised that if the Bharatiya Janata Party was voted to power, he would strive to make the country “corruption-free”. But Modi has forgotten election promises, of implementing Jan Lokpal in the country.
In this election the Congress workers should ask votes based on the achievement of the Congress-led State government under the leadership of Siddaramaiah, he added.
Vinay Kumar Sorake district minister in-charge and minister for urban development said that the congress led government which is instrumental in strengthening the Panchayat Raj System in the state, is committed to enhance release of funds. The recommendation made by Ramesh Kumar Committee have been completely implemented in the state. The Panchayat Raj Act has been amended and renamed as Grama Swaraj Panchayat Raj Act. The 50 percent reservation for women in the elections of rural local governance intends to support participation of women in governance, he added.
Criticising the BJP, he said several ministers were jailed or were facing corruption and sexual assault charges when the BJP was in power in the State. “The BJP has no moral right to ask votes before the voters,” he said.
Rajya Sabha member and also former union minister Oscar Fernandes in his message said that in India there are as many as 33 lakh elected Panchayat representatives, of which 18 lakh are women. There is reservation for women in the panchayat Raj bodies. Women elected to these bodies have become presidents and vice-presidents. They have shown that they too are able administrators. The panchayats have an important role in identifying poor families for various welfare programmes of the Union and State Governments, he added.
Jayamala, Member of Legislative Council addressing the gathering said that Using various popular government schemes and programmes introduced by the State government is a trump card, She further said that schemes like Anna Bhagya and Ksheera Bhagya would help make Karnataka a hunger-free State. Congress government has fulfilled maximum promises it had made in the Assembly election manifesto. The State government has started Manasvini and Maitri schemes to unmarried/divorcee poor women and transgenders. These two schemes have been implemented for the first time in the state, which is a major achievement by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, she added.
Pramod Madhwaraj MLA Udupi, Gopal Poojary MLA Byndoor, Goapl Bhandary, U R Sabhapathi former MLA’s, Sathish Ameen Padukere, Ida Gibba D’Souza, Yuvaraj, M A Gafoor, Sarala Kanchan, Amritha Shenoy, Amritha Krishnamoorthy, Naveenchandra Shetty and others were present.
