New Delhi, 12 October, 2009: Tired of governments slow progress towards passing the womens reservation bill, womens groups are now resorting to unique ways of pressurising the government. In order to garner wide support from organisations and individuals across the country, the Centre for Social Research is mounting a campaign wherein it will be sending impassioned letters to the President of India to facilitate the passage of the much awaited Bill. The target is to send as many as 1 million letters from all parts of the country!

Although President Patils vision & efforts of making womens empowerment a reality are yielding fruits steadily with the introduction of the 50\% reservation in panchayats, much still needs to be done in terms of bringing in more gender friendly legislations in the country. Womens organisations who had also pinned all hopes on the UPA governments intent of passing the Womens Reservation Bill(which was on its 100- day agenda), are wondering as to why it has again failed to see the light of the day. These letters from all across the country will act as regular reminders to awaken the government. The campaign will reinforce the support of common man towards the empowerment of women, says Dr. Ranjana Kumari, Director, Centre for Social Research.

Internet will be used effectively as a medium for garnering support. Facebook, E groups, and blogs will be used to connect with individuals and organisations from different parts of the country to support the campaign.

Indias President, Parliament Speaker and the UPA Chairperson (the most powerful politician today) are all women with many women also adorning the chief ministers throne, and thousands others heading village panchayats. Yet all attempts to increase the fairer sexs presence in Parliament and state legislatures have miserably failed. Disheartened with the governments slow yielding results, womens organisations across the country are now devising innovative ways of pressurising the government.

It should also be noted that the President has the constitutional powers to nominate candidates to the Rajya Sabha. Therefore, we would also request her to create more space for women in the Upper House of the Parliament, till we await the passage of the Womens Reservation Bill, adds Dr Kumari.



About Centre for Social Research (CSR):

Centre for Social Research is one of the leading Womens Institutions working in the field of social action since 1983. CSR was founded by a group of concerned social scientists dedicated to promote the empowerment of women, deprived castes and groups. The goal of the organization is to achieve economic self-sufficiency and raise awareness on social, political and legal issues. At present, CSR has six divisions: Development and Capacity Building, Violence against Women Programme, Research, Gender Training Institute and Networking and Advocacy.