Women with a cause: Female leaders demand 33% reservation in Parliament

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Older people love to gripe about the younger lot. And their gripes are remarkably similar. As two lawyers began negotiating the next date of hearing with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), one of the jury members spoke about his experience as a practising advocate. When the lawyers pointed out it would be difficult for them to appear before the tribunal on certain days because they would be attending other cases in other cities, the NCLT jury member described how he would regularly take an evening Shatabdi Express to Delhi from another city where he would be arguing a case during the morning. The message perhaps: no date too difficult.

Women with a cause

Women politicians and activists collected outside Parliament on Thursday morning to demand that the Narendra Modi government bring the bill for 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and legislatures. Delhi Police had not been informed of the protest march, and struggled to maintain law and order. The protesters rued they would never be allowed to march to Parliament, and had therefore decided to organise a ‘flash mob’. Later in the day, Congress Lok Sabha member Sushmita Dev, and leaders such as Rajni Patil and Renuka Chowdhury protested inside Parliament, and demanded that the reservation issue be discussed. The Rajya Sabha, which had seen disruptions since Monday, spoke in one voice to celebrate International Women's Day. “With women constituting about 50 per cent of our population, social, economic and political empowerment of women, including providing reservation in Parliament and state legislatures, has to be accorded top priority for the country to achieve rapid progress,” Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said.

Summertime blues

A European bank has postponed inauguration of its branch in Gift City, Gandhinagar, from May to July 2018. It is learnt that the bank’s Asia Pacific head, who would be the chief guest at the function, was concerned about the nasty heat of the Indian summer. The banker had suffered a sun-stroke during his last visit to India in 2015 when he came to attend an industry conference in Delhi. A spokesperson of the bank was quick to add that summer heat was not the only concern. “We would like to complete the construction-related work first and then inaugurate the space,” he clarified.