Hindu Dalit woman chairs Pak Senate session on Women's Day
Pakistan's first female senator from Hindu Dalit community
Islamabad, Mar 8: Krishna Kumari Kohli, Pakistan's first female senator from the Hindu Dalit community, on Friday chaired the session of the Upper House of Parliament on occasion of International Women's Day.
"Chairman Senate of Pakistan decided to make our colleague Krishna Kumari Kohli aka Kishoo Bai to Chair the Senate for today on Women's Day," Senator Faisal Javed tweeted.
Krishna, 40, was elected as senator in March 2018 after spending many years working for the rights of bonded labourers in Muslim-majority Pakistan. She is the first Thari Hindu woman to be elected to the Pakistan senate.
She belongs to the Kohli community from the remote village of Dhana Gam in Nagarparkar area of Sindh province where a sizeable number of Hindus live.
"I consider myself very fortunate today to be sitting on this seat...," she said before starting the session.
International Women's Day is observed across the world on March 8.
Born to a poor peasant, Jugnu Kohli, in February 1979, Krishna and her family members spent nearly three years in a private jail owned by the landlord of Kunri of Umerkot district.
She was a grade 3 student at the time when held captive. She was married to Lalchand at the age of 16, when she was studying in 9th grade.
She pursued her studies and in 2013 she did masters in sociology from the Sindh University. She had joined the Pakistan Peoples Party as a social activist along with her brother, who was later elected as Chairman of Union Council Berano.
Krishna's election to Senate represented a major milestone for women and minority rights in Pakistan.
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Siddaramaiah defends BPL ration card cancellation, says only ineligible beneficiaries affected
New Delhi, Nov 21: In a strong defence of the Karnataka government's move to cancel ration cards, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday clarified that only government employees and income tax payers are being weeded out from the Below Poverty Line (BPL) list, not eligible poor beneficiaries.
Talking to reporters, Siddaramaiah asserted that the cancellation is in line with the National Food Security Act, which explicitly bars government employees and income tax payers from receiving BPL ration cards.
He accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of raising a politically motivated issue despite originally opposing the food security legislation.
"The rights of eligible ration card holders will be fully protected," the chief minister emphasised, dismissing opposition claims that the move was linked to fund constraints for implementing poll promises.
ALSO READ: Karnataka to reissue BPL cards for eligible families: Deputy CM DK Shivakumar
The controversy stems from the Karnataka government's recent survey identifying 22.63 lakh BPL card-holders as ineligible. This move has triggered a political slugfest between the ruling Congress and the BJP.
Union Food Minister Pralhad Joshi claimed the central government had directed the state to clean the beneficiary lists. He alleged that the card cancellation was a strategy to avoid implementing the state's Gruha Lakshmi Yojana scheme.
Siddaramaiah hit back, reminding that the food security law was introduced during the Manmohan Singh government in 2013 to protect poor citizens' interests. He criticised the BJP for previously reducing food grain allocation from seven kg to five kg per beneficiary during B S Yediyurappa's tenure.
The chief minister categorically stated that there would be no compromise on the five poll guarantees and that sufficient funds were available for their implementation.
Siddaramaiah was in the national capital for the launch of Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation Ltd's Nandini brands in Delhi. He also met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the issue of farm loan.
