NGO trains women for role in governance

A leading city-based NGO held a training camp for women from rural areas of Uttarakhand to educate them about how to create a democracy free from gender discrimination.
The focus of the camp was to prepare women to play a bigger role in local self-governance institutions so that they are just towards the fair sex, a release from the NGO named RLEK which is headed by Padmashree awardee rights activist Avdhash Kaushal said.
Women from 5 blocks namely Raipur, Doiwala and Sahaspur in Dehradun district, Bhagwanpur block in Haridwar district and Jaunpur (Thatyud) block of Tehri district participated in the three-day gender training camp conducted at RLEK auditorium. The camp ended today.

The training was organized by RLEK under the project "Strengthening women's role for a gender just, secure and stable democracy through participation in institutions of local self-governance", it said.
"Political parties these days are only interested in protecting their seats than doing something for the society, they work only during elections," Vice Chancellor of NALSAR, a Hyderabad-based university of law, Faizan Mustafa said at the camp.
"This brings more responsibility on the shoulders of elected women representatives to not just work for society but also empower compatriot women," Mustafa said.
"One cannot be a good leader if they do not have basic knowledge of law. So legal literacy especially for women is very important as it plays an important part in empowerment," A R Ramchandran from the faculty of law of Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration said.