Ansari lauds performance of woman representatives

Lauding "exceptional performance" of women representatives despite challenges of proxyism, Vice President Hamid Ansari today said they will occupy more than 50 per cent seats in all the three tiers of governance after 10 to 15 years.
He said out of three million directly elected representatives in Panchayat Raj System, one million were women, compared to 4,963 elected representatives in the two houses of Parliament, 27 State and Union Territory Assemblies.
"Despite challenges of proxyism, women representatives have performed exceptionally in local bodies in terms of leadership, integrity, responsiveness and sensitivity.
"The projection in this study is that after 10 to 15 years, women may occupy more than 50 per cent in all three tiers of governance which is heartening," Ansari said launching a book "Status of Panchayati Raj in the states and Union Territories in India 2013."

The Vice President also stressed on the importance of the tenet of "decentralisation" of governance on which the Panchayati Raj institution is based.
"In a country of our size and diversity there is no option but to devolve governance to the local levels in order to deal with myriad local issues and services, which need local solutions and delivery, with active participation of the intended beneficiaries," he said.