Pakistani Community Chanel
An attempt by India’s government to pass legislation reserving a third of all seats for women in parliament provoked uproar as opposition politicians forced repeated adjournments.
The government had been confident that the Women Reservation Bill, which has been stalled for 14 years, would gather the required votes to pass in the upper house after being presented on International Women’s Day. The upper house was adjourned twice as politicians opposing the bill shouted down speakers and refused to allow the introduction of the proposed legislation and a scheduled debate. The ruling Congress party, its allies and the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have pledged their support in public, but several socialist parties oppose it.
They argue that the law, which would reserve a third of seats for women in the parliament and state assemblies, would lead to a monopoly by upper-caste women at the expense of lower caste and religious minority Muslims. Attempts to pass the bill have been blocked by various political groups in the past who have demanded separate quotas for women from Muslim and low-caste communities.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Monday announced establishment of the Office of Womens Ombudsman, 10percent quota for females in CSS and conversion of Youth Development Centres into Working Women Hostels.
Addressing a function on the occasion of International Womens Day in Islamabad at the Convention Centre, Prime Minister Gilani said the government had initiated a number of measures for the empowerment of women. He said the National Commission on Status of Women (NCSW) would be given total administrative and financial autonomy and the government had decided to strengthen the First Women Bank to promote economic empowerment of women.
The Prime Minister said the present democratic government had an unflinching commitment to the cause of gender equality and was fully cognizant of the existing critical issues and problems being faced by the women in domestic and national life.
He said , the Pakistan Peoples Party manifesto gives high priority to empowerment of women to ensure equal rights through economic, social, legal and political measures.
Now the laws have been enacted for the protection of women. I have directed all concerned to implement these in letter and spirit, he added.
Gilani said the government was taking forward the legacy of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and striving to implement her vision and plans, left unfulfilled due to her untimely martyrdom.
Let me assure you that my government is determined to follow and implement, in letter and spirit, her vision of a greater and stronger Pakistan, with a literate and empowered nation, despite the challenges of extremism we are facing today.
He pointed some of the measures taken by the government for empowerment and said increased representation at National and Provincial Assemblies has helped political empowerment of women. He pointed that Dr. Fehmida Mirza was the only woman Speaker of a House of Parliament in the Muslim World and many of the National Assembly Standing Committees were being chaired by women parliamentarians and an active Women Caucus with representation of all parties has been formed at the national level.
In the context of economic empowerment of women, Shaheed Benazir Bhuttos vision has been achieved through distribution of land to landless haris, 70% of these beneficiaries are women.
Gilani said so far the Government of Sindh has distributed 43,000 acres of state land among 4196 beneficiaries. To provide immediate support to the destitute women, the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) has been undertaken with an initial allocation of Rs.34 billion (US $ 425 million approximately) and a job quota of 10% for women has been assured in public sector employment.
He said Pakistan, being a signatory to various UN Conventions, especially Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Convention on Rights of Children (CRC) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and was committed to elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.
The Prime Minister said discriminatory laws are being amended. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2009 has been enacted, whereas Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Bill, 2010 has been passed by the National Assembly and Senate.
These legislations would serve as deterrent to the issue of harassment at workplace and provide opportunity to young women to join private and public sector without any fear.
He said a draft Domestic Violence Bill, 2009 was also in the process of enactment. Meanwhile, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Centres for Women were being increased to provide immediate relief to the victims of violence. He said legislation to enable women to own property and assets was being formulated.
Gilani said measures like establishment of working women hostels, provision of transport facilities to female employees, establishment of Day Care Centres, were a part of the Governments initiative to address the problems of working women.
For empowering women further, the government has assured better health and education facilities. The Prime minister said efforts were under way to mainstream womens interests in the policies and projects of the government. National Policy for Development and Empowerment of Women, 2002 and National Plan of Action (NPA) are being reviewed as per present situation and requirements through Gender Reform Action Plan (GRAP).
I am pleased to announce that the policy and National Plan of Action (NPA) will be presented to the Cabinet soon, Gilani said.
Parliamentarians, female artists and women belonging to various walks of life attended the event.
A documentary narrating the struggle of Pakistani women from 1947-2010 was screened.
Female singers presented songs and renowned writers Kishwar Naheed and Fahmeeda Riaz read poems.
Nokia Phones to Recharge Automatically, Soon! is a post from: ProPakistani
Nokia Phones to Recharge Automatically, Soon! is a post from: ProPakistani
Soon, your Nokia cell phone will never run out of battery, while you are on the go.
New Scientist figured out that Nokia has filed for a US Patent for a phone that recharges as the phone user moves.
Some watches already use similar pattern for generating [...]
The State Bank of Pakistan has provided Rs 10.15 billion to the commercial banks in order to inject liquidity into the Money Market.
The central bank carried out an open market operation, State Bank received offers of Rs 17.15 billion for re-purchasing T-bills and Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs). The central bank accepted offers of Rs 10.15 billion. The central bank bought back PIBs and T-bills under 5-day reverse-repo at interest rate of 11.99 percent.
At least 57 people have been killed in Turkey due to a strong earthquake measuring 6.4 on Richter scale.
According to the MET office the center of the earth quake was province of Karkason. Officials said the nearby village of Okcular had been almost destroyed and several others badly damaged.
Rescue workers were trying to pull out other people from debris in Okcular village. People spent the night out in the open due to fear from aftershocks. The officials feared rise in the number of causalities.
Four in Five Believe Internet Access a Fundamental Right is a post from: ProPakistani
In a study conducted by the BBC World Service, four in five respondents said they believe web access is a fundamental right.
27,000 people from 26 countries were surveyed. 78 percent of Internet users believed the Web gave them greater freedom, while nine [...]
At least six girls were burnt alive as fire broke out at a girls hostel in Rawalpindi. Relief operation is underway.
Firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze after one hour. Many female students were evacuated by the emergency relief workers as they were caught inside their dormitories and went unconscious due to suffocation. At least six female students were burnt to death in the fire cause of which was not immediately known.
At least four females, including students, were also severely burnt by the blaze and were rushed to local hospital in critical condition.
RAWALPINDI PAKISTAN: At least six female students died and several others were injured on Monday after fire broke out at a girls’ hostel located in Saddar area of Rawalpindi.
The hostel was filled with smoke following the fire, police said. The fire brigade team reached the scene and kickstarted the rescue efforts.
Six girls have died due [...]
During the first six months of the current fiscal year, decrease in cement prices accounted for the decrease of profitability in the sector.
According to a report by Invest Cap Securities, cement worth Rs 12.1 billion was sold during the first six months of fiscal year 2009, however cement worth Rs 58.3 billion during the same [...]