Gujral Bid To Give Pro-Women Gloss To Ministry

Amidst the controversy over extending reservation in legislatures to women, Prime Minister I K Gujral yesterday tried to give a pro-women gloss to his team by inducting four women in the Union council of ministers.

In the process, however, he created history of sorts. With the induction, the number of women ministers in the United Front government goes up to five, including Kanti Singh. The five include three from the Janata Dal.

It was for the first time that only women were sworn in by the President during a swearing-in ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Secondly, one of those sworn in technically belongs to a party that is not part of the United Front government.

Jayanthi Nataran, who was among the four women sworn in, is currently with the Tamil Maanila Congress, but on the records of the Rajya Sabha, she is a Congress member.

When G K Moopanar parted company with the Congress and formed the TMC, Natarajan joined him. She has now been made one of the TMCs general secretaries. She has not been expelled either by the Congress, and continues to be a Congress MP in the Upper House.

This prompted a senior minister to remark that the Congress has now formally joined our government.

An articulate lawyer-turned-politician, 43-year-old Natarajan is the ninth representative from Tamil Nadu in the council of ministers. She hails from a traditionally Congress family, and is the grand-daughter of former Tamil Nadu chief minister M Bakthavatsalam.

Kamla Sinha and Ratnamala Savanoor, who were also sworn in, belong to the Janata Dal. Sinha is a veteran trade union leader from Bihar.

Alongwith husband and veteran labour leader Basawan Singh, she took part in several trade union movements, and was imprisoned several times, including during the Emergency.

Twice president of the Hind Mazdoor Sabha between 1987 and 1994, she is the longest serving member of the International Union of Socialist Youth (Vienna).

Savanoor, who hails from Karnataka, shot into fame when she defeated former Union minister and Congress heavyweight B Shankaranand in his stronghold Chikkodi Lok Sabha constituency during the last elections.

She had little experience in politics, while Shankaranand had won from the constituency several times.

standing committees of the ministries of commerce, agriculture and textiles.

Renuka Chowdhury, the fourth inductee yesterday, is considered a vocal and aggressive member of the Rajya Sabha. The stormy petrel of the Telugu Desam party makes her ministerial debut. She is also leader of the TDP parliamentary party. Fortythree-year-old Chaudhary has been a member of Parliament for over a decade.

Former President R Venkataraman once described her as the nightingale of the Rajya Sabha.

Chaudhary has been vocal on issues concerning women and children, and has been in the forefront of the campaign to press for extending reservation to women in Parliament and state legislatures.