Andhra Pradesh Women’s Commission Chairperson Vasireddy Padma has said that the State government took several measures for the empowerment of women resulting in their increased participation in various sectors.
Ms. Padma is on a two-day visit to the city to participate in a series of programmes to educate women on the remedies available to them to prevent sexual harassment at the workplace, and use of the Disha app to protect themselves in times of emergency.
Addressing the media here on Monday, she said that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was keen on implementation of 50% reservation to women in nominated posts and now there was a noticeable change with more and more women entering politics. Politics, which was male-dominated in the past, was being reversed, she said.
Similarly, the enrolment of girls in schools has shown a significant increase with toilets and other infrastructure being improved in government schools under the ‘Nadu – Nedu’ programme, Ms. Padma said. The government has launched a number of measures to tackle crimes against girls and women. The Disha app had recorded 30 lakh downloads, two-wheeler were provided to women police and the Disha Police Stations were provided vehicles for ensuring protection of women in distress, she said.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders, who were now raising a hue and cry over lack of safety to women in the State after every incident of crime against women, should remember that former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had turned down the plea of an acid attack victim in Ranga Reddy, in the undivided State, for release of funds for her surgery, Ms. Padma alleged.
Mr. Naidu had said that it was not the responsibility of the State government to fund her treatment, she said. The High Court had admonished him but he went to the Supreme Court only to be chided again, Ms. Padma added. She recalled that Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy had sanctioned funds for her treatment, after he became the Chief Minister subsequently.
When her attention was drawn to the recent attacks on women in Vizianagaram and Guntur, the Women’s Commission Chairperson attributed such incidents to growing friendships through social media, where the identity of the other person was not known. She called for collective efforts to curb such crimes.
To another query, she said that the functioning of Internal Complaint Committees (ICCs) was far from satisfactory in many organisations and measures were being taken to strengthen them.
