WOMEN'S BILL

While supporting the Women's Reservation Bill being introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, chief minister Mayawati said that 33 per cent quota fixed under the bill should be in addition to that of existing provisions of the reservation."No doubt the bill is a step towards empowering the women, but it will not yield any tangible result unless amended suitably to delink 33 per quota from that of the existing provisions," Mayawati said in a statement, issued at a press conference on her behalf by cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh. My government has always been for the bill, but at the same time it strongly feels that women of all castes and classes should get their due in the society and for this the percentage of the quota should be increased," she said in the press note.Further, she also emphasised the need for evolving a political consensus on the bill, which she said was necessary for the empowerment of the women in the country especially at grassroots level.On the occasion, Singh also released a booklet entitled 'Rajyo Ka Vikas: Kendriya Sahyata Ka Sach' (States' development and the truth about Central assistance). The booklet apparently comes as a counter offensive by the Mayawati government against the 'Hisab Mango Abhiyan' launched by the UP Congress Committee.In a befitting reply to the Congress criticism, Singh said that the government had spent around Rs 36,000 crore under the plan-expenditure during the financial year of 2007-08.