Women empowerment to be one of the main agenda during Congress’ Jaipur session

Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi always stressed for the need of ensuring adequate empowerment for women. And, this is going to be one of the important topics to be taken up in the Jaipur Chinta Shivir of the party.

The summit is likely to discuss revive efforts to pass a law that reserves seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The legislation was passed by the Rajya Sabha in March 2010, but is yet to be passed by the Lok Sabha. The Congress knows that the focus on women issues, the Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) scheme, and the Food Security Bill could revive the morale of party workers and also the party’s electoral fortunes. Congress may alsol adopt a slogan to indicate this approach: “Pehle hoga naari samman, baad mein hoga Bharat nirman (Respect for women first, nation building will follow)”.

The slogan of the Congress party in 2004—“Congress ka haath, aam aadmi ke saath.” (The hand of the Congress is with the common man; the hand happens to be the party’s symbol)  was very catchy. The slogan was used to hard-sell inclusiveness, the platform for its surprise return to power in 2004 and more recently with “Aapka paisa, aapke haath (Your money in your hand)” to propagate the direct cash transfer scheme.

Reportedly, the discussion in Jaipur will have a special session on empowering women, apart from the usual themes of political challenges, socio-economic policies, international affairs and organizational matters.

The policies benefiting the aam aadmi has given Congress an upper hand. The schemes like Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, and the loan waiver scheme for the farmers helped the party to retain power in 2009.

Sonia Gandhi has been pushing for the Women Reservation Bill to be passed. The Congress-led UPA’s policy of DBT to transfer subsidies and other benefits under government-run welfare schemes directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries is a good step forward. The scheme, which has been initiated in 20 districts, will be extended to 18 states from April and in other parts of the country by 2014.

Women alone may not be the focus of the Congress. Because of the efforts of Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, the Jaipur session will witness for the first time a large number of younger members participating in discussions and putting forward suggestions for improving the organization and the party’s electoral prospects. In recognition of the youth demographic and their increasing interest in policy making, as evidenced by the recent public protests over corruption and women’s safety, the three-day meet will end with a one-day session that will have 118 participants from the Youth Congress and the party’s student wing.

The Chintan Shivir will be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, members of the council of ministers, Congress working committee members, Congress legislative party chiefs and state unit presidents among the 345 invitees.

Congress leaders are also hoping the government will be able to pass the legislation on food security before the 2014 election. The Food Security Bill, which promises to provide subsidized food to the poor, and a pet project of Sonia Gandhi, is also likely to be discussed. The Congress president Sonia Gandhi was very upset that it is still pending.