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Mayawati's done nothing for women
Varanasi, January 20, 2012: Samajwadi Party state president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday accused CM
Mayawati of doing nothing for women despite being a woman and of diverting development funds to putting up her statues. "The state has
spent Rs 400 crore on installing statues. The time has come to remove
this corrupt government from power," Yadav said at a rally in Saidpur tehsil of
Ghazipur. Commenting on local problems, Yadav said, "The CM also diverted funds
meant for the Sakaldihya- Chandauli setu on river Ganga towards installing statues."
He assured youth of an unemployment allowance. Addressing farmers, he
said, "If the SP forms the next government then it will ensure regular
power and water supply to farmers." Yadav also promised a sport complex and a stadium in the region.
Later, at another rally at Keshra Pokhra, Yadav alleged that farmers had
got a raw deal under the BSP regime. He also accused the BSP government
of stopping all development projects, which had been started by the SP
government. Yadav inducted more than 100 BJP workers in the SP. Source: Hindustan Times
DST has launched a major initiative to provide opportunities to women scientists
Bhubaneswar, January 8, 2011: The department of science and technology (DST) has launched a major
initiative to provide opportunities to women scientists and technologists, especially those who have been forced to take breaks in
their careers. Dr T. Ramaswami, heading DST, pointed out that DST had created 1,000
contractual positions for working women scientists who wanted to relocate with many of these posts being created in public sector
institutions.
This scheme, titled DISHA, would offer five-year scholarships to women
up to the age of 55 in the physical sciences, earth sciences, atmospheric sciences, mathematical and life sciences.
This should help tackle the overall shortage of women scientists.
The percentage of women at the top ranges from between 10-14 per cent of
the strength of an institution. In fact, women scientists constitute
less than 15 per cent of the scientific pool in the country — the Indian
Academy of Sciences has 57 women and 928 male fellows, and the ratio is
no better in the Indian National Science Academy and the National
Academy of Sciences. Prof. Vijaylakshmi Ravindranath, chairperson of the Centre for
Neuroscience at the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, feels it is
imperative to make science more gender-sensitive and create support structures for women to continue their career.
Astrophysicist
Anna-purni Subramanian of the Indian Institute of
Astrophysics pointed out that in her own department, women students often dropped out because they had to take part in frequent field trips
to observatories which involved spending the night there. “Women’s participation has been described as a leaky pipeline after graduation
and also after marriage. We need to adopt a more flexible approach. If
students are not able to finish their Ph.Ds, they should be allowed to
reduce the number of courses in a semester and carry forward their work
to another semester. They must also be allowed to adopt flexible timings,” said Dr
Subramanian. Science works by isolating variables, but scientific enterprise cannot
be productive if women are isolated within it.
The two key problems of women scientists — relocation after marriage and
finding new mentors under which to conduct their research — will help
plug dropout rates in a major way, Dr Subramanian added. She herself lost four years after the birth of her son. When she
rejoined work, she found herself four years behind her colleagues. “The introduction of contractual work will ensure a seamless transition
and also no loss of pay for women scientists,” said a woman scientist
from the DST. |
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