Accounting for change

Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid was unable to conceal his disappointment when he saw there were very few women among the chartered accountants that filled Vigyan Bhavan’s majestic plenary hall on the occasion of the anniversary of their institution, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). Invoking the key message of the Women’s Reservation Bill, which intends to reserve 33 per cent of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women, Khurshid asked the ICAI why this could not be applied to the CA profession. He said he hoped to see the hall filled with the right proportion of women in future and expressed the hope that this would happen when a “woman corporate affairs minister” addressed ICAI members at their annual meeting.