Government working on consensus, says Naidu

The erstwhile UPA government tried to evolve consensus on the issue for 10 years and the present dispensation is continuing that effort, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said after an impromptu debate on women’s empowerment on the occasion of International Women’s Day during which the demands for reservation were raised. 

“Our government is working towards evolving consensus... Hope we succeed at the earliest,” he said about the bill which proposes 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and Assemblies. The bill was passed by Rajya Sabha in 2010 but got stuck in Lok Sabha due to stiff resistance by a number of parties.  

When a member from the opposition camp wanted a concrete assurance, Naidu hit back saying “they (Congress government) could not evolve consensus in 10 years”. He said the Modi government, meanwhile, has initiated a number of schemes for empowerment of women, including ‘beti  bachao, beti padao’ (save girl child, educate girl child). Most important is education of girl child, the minister said.