Centre following Bihar model for women's quota: Nitish

The Centre is following the Bihar model viz-a-viz its promise to provide 50 per cent reservation to women in panchayats and local self bodies within 100 days, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said today.

" Bihar has taken a step forward in this regard and has already implemented 50 per cent reservation for women in panchayats and local bodies. Now the Centre is also contemplating on this line. It is a great satisfaction for me that the Bihar model is being implemented across the country,"he said, reacting to the Centre's move on the reservation which found place in the Presidential address to the Parliament yesterday.

President Pratibha Patil in her address had said the government was committed to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies, besides 50 per cent quota for them in panchayats and local bodies. Asked whether JD(U) would support the Women's Reservation Bill, Kumar said,"Let the Bill be tabled in the House first."

Responding to the Centre's special drive to make every women literate by restructuring the' National Literacy Mission', Kumar said his government had recently decided to make 40 lakh women literate in the state under the' Mukhyamantri Akshar Aanchal' programme, scheduled to start from August.