Women reservation in Bihar will empower them, says Nitish

Patna: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday said the state government's decision to provide 50 per cent reservation to women in the cooperative bodies will go a long way towards empowering the fair gender in Bihar. Intervening during the Cooperative Minister Ramadhar Singh's reply to debate on the Bihar Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2013, he said, the decision to provide 50 per cent reservation to the women in the cooperative bodies will be a positive move in the direction of their empowerment.

The other states should take a leaf from Bihar and empower women by providing for 50 per cent reservation in the cooperative bodies, Kumar added. Stating that the representation of women in the cooperative bodies have been negligible for all these years, the CM said, he was glad that the state assembly passed the bill merely ten days after a cabinet decision was taken in this regard.

Kumar said that the state government would like the cooperative institutions, including the Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACSes), to function independently by the representatives elected in democratic elections and cater to aspiration of socio-economic aspiration of the rural people, including the women. With the women set to become an equal partner in the cooperative bodies in future, there will be equity and socio-economic empowerment of all sections of the society he said.