BJD hopes passage of women's reservation bill in Lok Sabha: Patnaik

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday said the BJD would certainly press for passage of the women's reservation bill in the Parliament.

"Yes, indeed. We wish that the women's reservation bill be passed," Patnaik said while replying to a question during an interaction in Bhubaneswar.

The chief minister said the Biju Janata Dal strongly believed in the women empowerment, pointing out that his party had fielded women in one-third of seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

"My late father Biju Patnaik was the first in the country to reserve 33 per cent of seats for women in panchayati raj institutions. My government has raised this reservation ratio to 50 per cent," Patnaik said.

The BJD president also pointed out that his government had two flagship programmes -- Mission Shankti and Mamata.

"Mission Shakti, which has so far become a movement in the state, provides both social as well as economic empowerment to the women," Patnaik said.

He further said the Mamata scheme was for pregnant women and they are given financial assistance for child births.