New Delhi: There is pressing need to bring about a change in the mindset of society so that women are treated with dignity and respect, President Pranab Mukherjee said Monday, urging state governors to work for the safety of women.
Inaugurating the 44th conference of governors at Rashtrapati Bhavan here, Mukherjee said the meeting was taking place in the shadow of the unfortunate incident of brutal rape and death of a young woman in Delhi which had shaken the collective conscience of the nation. The woman, gang-raped and tortured Dec 16 night in a bus, died in a Singapore hospital Dec 29 last year. According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan press release, President Mukherjee told the conference that the government had taken prompt action on the recommendations of the Justice Verma Committee to enhance provisions of law that relate to the safety of women. “He urged the governors to work towards improving the security and welfare of women. He said there was pressing need to bring about a change in the mindset of society so that women are treated with dignity and respect,” the release said. The president said there was improvement in the country’s internal security last year but there was need for constant vigil.
He said the government’s commitment to strengthen counter terrorism must remain strong, and stressed that programmes undertaken in bordering areas to improve infrastructure needed to be expedited.
Calling for steps to strengthen delivery systems of government programmes, he said states that have progressed faster had well-administered delivery systems.
He said the government has devised a strategy focusing on increasing production in the eastern region for ensuring food security while preparing for crop diversification in Punjab and Haryana.
“A second Green Revolution in eastern India will require sustained focus and effort by all concerned agencies at the centre and the states. It will address long pending issues of low productivity and low income of farmers in eastern India,” the president said.
He said the government had decided to implement an agriculture development programme for ‘Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India (BGREI)’ under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) in Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal in 2010-11. (PTI)