JOIN USPM calls for steps to improve women's safety
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said vast improvements are needed in the area of the safety, security and status of women.
The prime minister was addressing the eighth Civil Service Day function in the national capital.
Referring to some vital issues country is facing on Sunday, the PM said, “The first concerns the safety, security and status of women in our society. It is widely accepted that, as a country, we have vast improvements to make in this vital area.”
He said these issues came into sharper focus after the horrific gang-rape incident in Delhi last December. The gruesome assault on a little girl a few days back reminds us once again of the need to work collectively to root out this sort of depravity from our society.
Instead of decrying the public outrage over the incidents, he termed them expression of public anxiety and wanted these to be dealt with concern and sensitivity, “The agitations that have followed the two incidents also point to the need for showing concern and sensitivity while dealing with the public anxiety that such incidents generate”.
He stressed that only law will not do, “Our government has moved with speed in strengthening the law to be able to deal more effectively with offences against women. But, this is only a small part of what needs to be done”.
“All of us, as responsible citizens, have a special obligation to contribute to the social and economic empowerment of women in our country. We need a widespread national movement in that direction. As leaders in government your responsibility to ensure this outcome is even greater,” he urged the civil servants.
Sushma’s stamp
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj’s demand of death penalty to child rapists has been supported by CPM leader Sitaram Yechury.
“We are willing to discuss and consider this because what happened in this Delhi rape case is gruesome. There is something seriously wrong in the society and there is no fear of the law,” Yechury told reporters on Sunday outside the Parliament house. He was reacting to Sushma Swaraj’s statement demanding capital punishment to those who are found guilty of raping children.
“Nothing short of death sentence in cases of rape of children and cases involving brutality and barbarity will help,” the BJP leader demanded on Saturday.
Bedi wants CM, police chief sacked
Former cop Kiran Bedi on Sunday demanded complete change in leadership of the Delhi government and the police including the Lt. governor, the chief minister, the chief secretary and the police commissioner, reports DHNS from New Delhi.