Bill soon for women quota in govt jobs: PC

NEW DELHI: The government proposes to introduce a legislation providing reservation for women in government jobs in the Budget session of Parliament. Union home minister P Chidamabram made this announcement at a thanksgiving meeting in his constituency Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu.

���At present, there is no reservation for women in government jobs. We will bring forward a bill providing reservation for women in government jobs,��� Mr Chidambaram said. In its election manifesto, Congress had proposed reserving one-third of all central government jobs for women. This is part of its effort to give greater impetus to the empowerment of the weaker sections of society.

Though no direct reference had been made of this proposal in the Presidential address, it did refer to concrete steps to create equal opportunities for women. ���Some concrete steps that are proposed to create equal opportunities for women are reservation to elected bodies at all levels, reservation in jobs and a National Mission on Female Literacy���, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil had said in her address to Parliament on June 4.

The government as part of its efforts to empower women has been pushing 33% reservation for women in Parliament. The home minister said that he was confident that the Women���s reservation Bill would be passed.