The Hindu : New Delhi News : Think hard before you vote, women told

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Wednesday, Apr 15, 2009
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Think hard before you vote, women told

Staff Reporter

‘Promises made in party manifestos are forgotten as soon as the polls are over’

NEW DELHI: Women Power Connect president Ranjana Kumari has appealed to women voters to carefully choose the political party before they caste their invaluable vote in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

After methodically going through the manifestos of political parties – the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India, Dr. Kumari pointed out that a majority of the political parties have made tall claims about stopping violence against women, checking the problem of declining sex ratio, ensuring women’s safety and enactment of the Women’s Reservation Bill.

“Since there is no mention of the allocation of necessary funds in manifestos, these promises will be forgotten as soon as the elections are over.”

Stating that almost all political parties have made promises to protect the girl child and protect women from various forms of violence in their manifestos, Dr. Kumari said: “However, it is surprising to see how the implementation of some of the most important provisions for women like sexual harassment at workplace will be possible without having a comprehensive national policy for women and a clear cut fund allocation.”

Pointing out that women’s organisations have been pressurising the government for an allocation of Rs. 300 crore towards the centrally sponsored schemes for women, Dr. Kumari said: “Year after year, women’s groups have been demanding effective implementation of the gender budgeting policy wherein all ministries and departments will be required to allocate 1/3rd of their resources for women. However, not a single party has mentioned a definite percentage of fund allocation across different ministries to ensure meaningful gender budgeting.”

According to Dr. Kumari, the latest electoral records point out that the total number of women voters have increased compared with the last elections. “This is a clear indication that women will have an equal say to decide the fate of political parties this time, and they may outnumber their male counterparts in some States. Ironically, instead of realising the potential of this group, political parties are neglecting them.”

Dr. Kumari said it remains to be seen whether the tall promises of political parties will be transformed into reality.

“Women voters, especially in the rural areas should be very careful in their selection of a political party and should not get lured by politicians who distribute money and gifts to woo voters. We appeal to women voters to keep the parties to their promises, and ensure that women’s issues do not disappear from the agenda as soon as election time is over.”

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