CHANDIGARH- March 17, 2011: “Gender equality is not an agenda of women versus men;
rather men should be partners in the empowerment of women” – an inclusive power
statement delivered by the President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil during
the course of the Dr. V.N Tewari Memorial Oration at Panjab University here this
morning. Speaking on the theme: Women as drivers of a Rising India, the President
liberally quoted from the speeches of illustrious statesmen while highlighting the
role of a woman as a critical determinant in the country’s growth.
    

Picking up on Pandit Nehru’s words, “You can tell the status of a nation by
looking at the status of its women”, she enjoined upon the gathering to be partners in
progress, one marked by sexual respect, particularly as India was on the threshold of
a great future. Spelling out an agenda for female empowerment, the President called
for gender sensitization at every stage - right from the protection of the female
foetus to the security of the working woman.  Fast track implementation of stringent
laws against dowry, domestic violence, sexual harassment; ensuring of health,
nutrition and childcare facilities; education and career counseling were other areas
that required focus, according to Smt. Patil.

    Sounding a cautionary note, the President said that now was not the time to be
complacent if we wanted to continue with our incessant endeavour to be a stable and
inclusive society and for that we need to heed Mahatma Gandhi’s words, ‘Salvation of
India lies in the elevation of her women’. “It is the woman who is the bedrock of a
stable society, she said, as she is the cementing force of the family structure.”
    
The occasion was also graced by His Excellency, Shri Jagannath Pahadia,
Governor of Haryana, His Excellency, Shri Shivraj V. Patil, Governor of Punjab and
Administrator, U.T. Chandigarh, Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal, Union Minister of Science &
Technology and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Chief Minister of
Haryana and Shri Manish Tewari, Member Parliament.  

    The governors of both the states too focused on the need of the socio-cultural
and political empowerment of the Indian woman in order to ensure her equal partnership
in the Asian Century.

    The Dr V. N. Tewari Memorial Oration is organized every year in memory of Shri
Manish Tewari’s father, an eminent educationist, linguist and parliamentarian who was
gunned down by militants in 1984 during the heydays of terrorism.

    Prof R.C. Sobti, Vice Chancellor Panjab University proposed the vote of
thanks.  

 DPR