Minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal Encourages Women Sarpanches And Panches To Not Give Their Duties To Men. Why Are Men Taking Over Anyway?
While women have been fighting to be on the same footing as men for decades and the fight is nowhere near over, the impact of the help and support of the government and other authoritative entities cannot be underestimated. Special provisions put in place by the government over the years have helped uplift multiple women and give them at least the chance to have similar opportunities as men. Hence, it is refreshing to see that not only did Minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal say that only women would be recruited as mates under MGNREGA but also encouraged female surpanches and panches.
Kuldeep Dhaliwal, Punjab Rural Development and Panchayat Minister, said that only women would be recruited as mates in villages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (2005) also known as MGNREGA scheme in order to better empower women in the state’s Panchayati Raj institutions. A mate’s responsibilities include supervising employees, recording daily attendance, and keeping track of who completes how much labour. The minister announced that the state government would also reserve 50% of panchayat secretary positions for female candidates during the upcoming recruitment drive while presiding over a seminar on the subject of women’s empowerment conducted at DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology (DAVIET).
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Additionally, Dhaliwal stated that those female sarpanches who had excelled in their field would receive double grants. He encouraged the female panchayat members to take the initiative as sarpanches and panches rather than delegating most of their duties and obligations to their husbands, father-in-laws, and brothers. The minister was given the ‘Vikas Purush’ award by female sarpanches, panches, block smitis, and zila parishad members from the districts of Jalandhar and Kapurthala.
In an effort to further motivate the 55 self-help organisations to accomplish their goals, the minister also presented them with checks totaling ₹ 12.25 lakh as revolving money. Among the notable attendees were Director of the Rural Development and Panchayat Department Gurpreet Singh Khaira, MLA for Nakodar Inderjit Kaur Mann, and representative for Kartarpur Balkar Singh.
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The MGNREGA is a labour law and social security programme in India that attempts to protect the ‘right to work’. Following the introduction of the bill in the parliament by the Minister for Rural Development, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, this act was passed on August 23, 2005, during the UPA administration of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It aims to increase the security of livelihood in rural areas by giving at least one adult household member who volunteers to perform unskilled manual labour at least 100 days of paid employment in a fiscal year. Under the MGNREGA, women are promised a third of the available jobs.
First Published: October 18, 2022 12:44 PM
