Empowerment to Women

17/07/2019

A women's role has changed tremendously and is making its greatest impact in our society today. Many years ago, women's contribution to society was limited and controlled by men. Women are standing tall and are playing a major role in many important areas. To give women more responsibility and empowerment, the State Government has ordered 33 percent reservation for women in the Block Development Councils (BDCs), which will form second tier of Panchayati Raj in Jammu and Kashmir, the elections for which are likely to be held after culmination of annual pilgrimage of Shri Amarnath Ji on August 15.33 percent BDCs have been reserved for the women in the State while the BDCs having more than 50 percent Scheduled Caste population will be reserved for the SCs. Number of the Block Development Councils has gone up to 316 as compared to 143 in 2012 when the BDC elections were announced but shelved on the issue of no reservations. Jammu region has highest number of 147 Block Development Councils out of which 53 have been reserved for women while Kashmir region has 136 Councils and 45 of them were reserved for females. Ladakh region has 31 Councils. Of them, 10 were reserved for women. Within 33 percent reservation for women, the Councils have also been reserved for SC and ST women depending upon population, sources said, adding that the Rural Development Department has issued the notification for reservation of the Councils.
In addition to 33 percent reservation for women, the Block Development Councils have also been reserved for SCs as per their population. The Government proposed to hold elections to the BDCs for the first time in Jammu and Kashmir in the month of August after culmination of Shri Amarnath Jiyatra on August 15 coinciding with Raksha Bandhan and Shravan Purnima. Never in the past has the second tier of Panchayats been constituted in the State. After Panchayat elections in 2011 during Omar Abdullah regime after about four decades, the Government had ordered conduct of the BDC elections in November 2012 but the process was shelved at the eleventh hour following objection raised by senior Congress leader GhulamNabi Azad on no reservation in the BDCs. The elections were never held again as the Panchayats completed their tenure in 2016. This is welcome step for empowering women. Such more steps are the need of the hour. Out of a total of 4483 Panchayats in the State, there were 2135 in Kashmir. As many as 1057 Panchayats couldn't be constituted in the Valley due to lack of quorum. As per the Panchayati Raj Act of Jammu and Kashmir, there should be at least one Sarpanch and one Panch to form quorum for constitution of the Panchayats but in 1057 Panchayats, there was either Sarpanch or Panch and they couldn't be constituted.

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