Lalitpur, Jan. 10: Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai today said that the upcoming session of Parliament would pass the controversial Women’s Bill that guarantees women’s fundamental rights, including the rights to parental property.

“However, women will have to continue their efforts to preserve the rights even after Parliament passes the Bill,” Bhattarai said at a programme organised by the Ministry of Women and Social Welfare to hold discussions on the Jagriti Women’s Income Generation Programme here today.

He said that men could play a significant role in making women aware about rights and providing them with the opportunity of policy making.

He reiterated his commitment that the present Nepali Congress led government would bring about a drastic change in the country by means of economic and educational revolution within next five years.

Speaker Taranath Ranabhat said that the buzzword of ‘women empowerment’ was limited to speech only. “The concerned individuals and organisations have to initiate some concrete programme so as to make the women feel that their role is equally important in society.”

A lot of resources were being mobilised by the civic society in women empowerment sector but the outcome was still very little compared to the investment of resources, he said.

From the chair, Minister for Women and Social Welfare Chiranjibi Wagle said that the programme aimed at making women self-reliant through self-empowerment.

State Minister for Women and Social Welfare Kamala Panta, who also holds the post of Chairperson of the women’s Income Generation Programme Steering Committee, said that everyone should rise above politics when it comes to the implementation of the programme.

Convenor of the Programme Central Working Committee Lila Koirala called for the co-operation of all sectors in making the programme a success.

Member of the Working Committee Dr. Balgopal Vaidhya said that the programme aimed at uplifting the political, economic and social status of women.

Secretary at the Ministry of Women and Social Welfare Urmila Shrestha said that the programme would cover 64 thousand women from 940 Village Development Committees and would further be extended to 380 thousand women from all the VDCs within the next five years.