The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Government ready to ban arrack sale in villages, says Horatti

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 08, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Government ready to ban arrack sale in villages, says Horatti

Special Correspondent

Women urged to get gram panchayats to pass resolutions favouring ban

CREATING AWARENESS: Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Basavaraj Horatti talking to women at the inauguration of a State-level workshop for rural women on legal rights, along with Suchithra Vedanth (left), State Programme Director, Mahila S amakhya, in Bangalore on Tuesday. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

BANGALORE: Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Basavaraj S. Horatti has said that the Government is ready to ban the sale of arrack in villages if the gram panchayats concerned pass resolutions favouring it.

Mr. Horatti was inaugurating a three-day workshop here on Tuesday on "Nari Adalat Nyaya Sankalpa" (informal women's court) organised by Mahila Samakhya in commemoration of International Women's Day (March 8).

He said women should launch a movement against the sale of arrack in villages and force the gram panchayats to ban its sale.

Representatives of women from 33 taluks of North Karnataka participated in the nari adalat.

Changing the law

The Law Department, of which the Minister holds additional charge, will hold discussions with the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department on amending the law, to enable the Government to ban the sale of arrack in villages, he said.

Most women in rural areas are unaware of their rights and how to access services. Often they are cheated because of ignorance about their entitlements. About 20,000 women members elected to gram panchayats in the State are non-literate and the Rural Development Department is conducting an eight-day training programme to educate them about their rights and responsibilities, Mr. Horatti said.

The Law Department is also considering extending free legal services at the gram panchayat level. At present they are being provided at the taluk level. The Government will arrange a trip to Bangalore for women members of gram panchayat under the "Grama Soudha to Vidhana Soudha" programme to inform them about the powers vested in the panchayats under the Constitution, the Minister said.

`Educate your children'

He recalled a proverb, "One good mother is worth 100 schoolteachers," and called upon women to educate their children. The North Karnataka region remains backward on account of illiteracy and lack of sufficient number of schools. Women constitute nearly 50 per cent of the population. Hence, they should support women candidates in elections, he said.

Mahila Samakhya is a programme of education under the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development. The programme has been instrumental in empowering poor and backward women by building capacities in six core areas: health, literacy, political participation, legal rights, economic activities and self-reliance.

The programme is being implemented in Bellary, Raichur, Koppal, Bidar, Gulbarga, Bagalkot, Mysore, Bijapur and Chamarajangar districts. It covers 2,390 mahila sanghas in 1,830 villages.

Suchitra Vedanth, State programme director, said 5,000 cases were registered in nari adalats of which 3,000 had been settled. Discussions and training in the workshop will revolve around the laws pertaining to women's rights, she said.

In the legal initiative of Mahila Samakhya, rural women are provided access to mediation, negotiation and counselling through legal clinics called "Sindhuvani Mahila Salaha Kendras" and nari adalats. During the last eight months alone about 600 cases were brought to the salaha kendras. Nari adalats are self-help groups formed by women to assist rural women in resolving disputes and providing support during distress, she said.

T.M. Vijayabhaskar, Secretary, Primary and Secondary Education Department, presided and released a booklet on legal rights of women.

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