By OUR STAFF REPORTER
Dehradun, 30 Aug: Panchayati Rule and Gender Awareness Training Institute (PRAGATI) organised a meeting of Australian High CommissionerBarry O’Farrell with 11 elected women Municipal Councillors in relation to a capacity building programme for more than 650 women with the support of the Australian High Commission and DAP that was successfully implemented by PRAGATI during the Dehradun Municipal Corporation Election, 2018-19.
High Commissioner O’Farrell said, earlier, he was the Chief Minister of New South Wales, Sydney, and he was happy that the capacity building programme was well implemented in Uttarakhand.
Ajit Singh, ex-Deputy State Election Commissioner, reminded the women that, if they have not submitted the details of their expenditure on election campaigns they must do so, otherwise they would be debarred for six years from contesting in any poll.
Josphin Singh, Vice Chairperson, PRAGATI, suggested that since everything has been digitalised, there is need for these women to know how to access various government portals to access various schemes and announcements, a computer literacy programme should be organised for the elected female representatives in order to make them smarter, like the Smart City of Dehradun. Also a similar capacity building project should be implemented during the elections due in 2024 for the Gram Panchayats.
Experience sharing was done by Anita Singh, Promila Kohli, Meera Kathayat and Sushila Rawat. An interaction with other beneficiaries was held by the High Commissioner in which he asked what are the issues shared by their voters to them and whether men vote for women candidates.
Municipal Councillor Vimla Gaud, Devika Rani, Veena Raturi, Meenakshi Maurya also attended the meeting. The High Commissioner also presented a book as a token of appreciation to the PRAGATI Team.
