Indian Discussion Forum

Affirming his commitment to women's empowerment, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the Government is moving towards providing one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures.

Inaugurating the women's leadership summit here, he said Government is committed to social, economic and political empowerment of women, whatever effort and resources the task might take.

The Women's Reservation Bill providing for 33 per cent reservation of seats for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies is expected to come up in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

Observing that reservation for women in local bodies has revolutionised governance at the grass-roots level, he said, "We hope to give this movement of political participation of women further fillip by increasing the number of seats reserved in Panchayats and city and town governments to 50 per cent.