U’khand govt should announce 33% women reservation in spl session: Harish Rawat
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE/ Nainital
While combatting the BJP’s aborted women reservation bill onslaught on the opposition parties, in general and the Congress, in particular, the Congress veteran and former chief minister Harish Rawat urged the BJP-helmed Uttarakhand government to take the first initiative in this matter in the country by announcing 33 per cent reservation for women in the Assembly in the special session called on April 28 and send the proposal to the Centre for approval. “I am appealing to all the parties, including Congress and BJP, to support me in this matter. This will be a inspiring initiative,” he said while addressing a media conference in Nainital. .
He, at the same time, cast doubt on the Central Government’s intentions on the women’s reservation bill. “We all wonder why the Centre linked the bill, passed unanimously in 2023, to population count and delimitation. When it fell through, they are putting the onus of its defeat in the Parliament on us. We doubt its intentions; they are murky,” he added.
Quizzed on the wildfire menace, he said that things are grim because the forests have lost their moisture. “My government implemented the Chal-Khal and Mera Vriksha-Mera Dhan schemes to restore moisture in the forests, but in 2017, after the BJP government was formed, they halted both these schemes. This has led to the depletion of forest moisture which is spiking wildfires,” Rawat commented.
Expressing concern over the rampant sale of land in the state, Rawat asserted that the culture of Devbhoomi Uttarakhand is at risk. “Without land, the culture will perish,” he said and added that if Congress comes to power in 2027 Assembly polls, their government would thoroughly review all the lands purchased by the non-natives,
He also addressed a public meeting at the sanatorium area in Bhowali district. “I am and will be in public life. My life remains meaningful only because I live among the people,” he said and added that it is high time to draw up a concrete and visionary roadmap for Uttarakhand’s bright future.
Moreover, he exhorted all political parties to engage in positive and inclusive politics by shedding the negative and exclusive propensity. “The dignity of dialogue cannot be overestimated,” he observed.
