Edu holds the key to women empowerment'

PATNA: Women are more responsible than men for atrocities against them as they fail to realize their potent force and dare not protest against them. Unless they empower themselves and participate in decision making process, they cannot claim their rightful place in the society.
Making these observations at the inaugural function of a two-day UGC-sponsored national seminar on `Empowerment of Women in Rural Bihar', organized by the political science department of Sri Arvind Mahila College at Patna Museum conference hall here on Wednesday, Bihar industries minister Renu Kumari said that education is the key factor of women's empowerment.All the social evils, including dowry deaths, female foeticide, and women's exploitation, would minimize if women were educated, she said.
Eulogising the Nitish governments efforts in creating an environment conducive for the development of women in the state, the minister said that Bihar is the first state in the country to reserve 50 percent seats for women in panchayat and civil bodies. Several other women's welfare schemes are in the pipeline. She called upon the women to make their independent identity and reach the centre stage even without the umbrella of reservation.
Renowned educationist and Magadh University former vice-chancellor Shamshad Hussain, in his presidential remarks, said that women would not be empowered so long as they themselves do not realize it. Psychological empowerment is the most important of all and this can happen only when they develop a positive attitude towards life and attain self-dependence. They must make their vision clear and fix their priorities in life, he added.
College principal Asha Singh observed that a country cannot develop without ensuring women's empowerment. Reservation of 50 percent seats for them in panchayats has already changed the shape of Bihar's villages. Seminar coordinator Sadhna Thakur said that unless women feel empowered both in urban and rural areas and are allowed to take independent decisions, their potential cannot be achieved at optimum level. Can a woman be considered emancipated if she is free to earn an income, but not made free to function according to her conscience, she asked.
National Gandhi Sangrahalaya deputy director Anil Dutt Mishra, in his keynote address, described women as a silent agent of social change and said that Nitish government's re-election could be possible only due to women's political empowerment. He, however, pleaded for cultural empowerment of women for a sustainable growth of the society. He called upon the women to come forward and break various social barriers and free themselves from various inhibitions.
Others who addressed the seminar included Ram Chandra Prasad, MLC, Birkeshwar Prasad Singh, MLC, political science department head Madhu Bala Verma, Rajasthan University former VC Sohan Raj Totar, Delhi University teacher Himanshu Ray and Ranchi University teacher Binod Chandra Pathak.
Usha Jha of political science department proposed the vote of thanks.