First in Indian Cricket: Women state captains to have voice at BCCI Conclave
New Delhi: In a first, the Indian cricket board will be inviting all the state skippers of the women's teams at its 'Annual Domestic Captains and Coaches Conclave', making the event more inclusive.
The more than a decade old conclave is conducted at the end of every domestic season. Captains and Coaches of various Ranji Trophy teams give their feedback to the BCCI administration about the season that goes by. However, the women cricketers were not made a part of it in the previous editions.
During the May 17 conclave in Mumbai, the captains and coaches of the women's state teams will be joining their male counterparts in giving assessment of the just-concluded domestic season.
"Yes, this is the first time that domestic women's team captains and the chief coaches have been invited to the conclave. Their feedback is very important and we would like to know what they thought about the last season," BCCI GM (Cricket Operations) Saba Karim, who is also in charge of overall development of women's game, told PTI on Wednesday.
Karim, however, didn't wish to get into whether there will be discussions on how to broaden the talent pool in order to have a full-fledged women's IPL in near future.
"I would not like to comment on that but yes we need to get feedback from our women cricketers and coaches for the development of the game and how we can help to raise the quality of cricket at the domestic level," the former India wicketkeeper said.
It is expected that likes of Jhulan Goswami (Bengal), Mithali Raj (Railways), Jemimah Rodrigues (Mumbai) along with other domestic captains will be attending the conference.
As far as the men's conclave goes, the notable aspect up for discussion will be the feedback provided by the captains and coaches of the North Eastern states who joined the first class system last season.
It is expected that sub-standard umpiring across all formats and age groups (men and women) is also likely to come up for discussion during the meeting.
In all, the 2018-19 season featured 2024 domestic matches (men and women) across age-groups with 6471 registered players (men and women) taking part.
This was close to 1000 matches more than last year.
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Women BJP MLAs protest against opposition in UP assembly premises
Lucknow (PTI): Women BJP MLAs held a protest in the Vidhan Bhawan complex before the one-day special session of Uttar Pradesh assembly, slamming the opposition for defeating the passage of a bill, which would have led to implementation of the Women's Reservation Law, in the Lok Sabha.
This followed another demonstration by Samajwadi Party MLAs, who alleged that the BJP was misleading public in the name of women's reservation.
The women BJP legislators assembled in front of Chaudhary Charan Singh's statue in the assembly premises, holding banners inscribed with the slogan "Insult to Matrushakti (women's power), India will not tolerate it". The protesting members entered the main hall of Vidhan Bhawan carrying the banners.
Participating in the protest, the state Minister for Women Welfare and Child Development, Baby Rani Maurya, told reporters that all opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, had opposed the women's reservation, a stance for which they would have to pay a heavy political price.
"On this issue, all of us women stand united. We will ensure that we secure our reservation," she said.
BJP MLA Ketki Singh remarked that their protest represents the collective outrage of millions of women across the state.
Singh asserted that the opposition has betrayed women by creating hurdles in the path of women's reservation. The current demonstration is merely the beginning, and very soon, women from every street, intersection and household will join the protest movement, she said.
Minister Vijaylakshmi Gautam said, "We strongly condemn the despicable act committed by the Samajwadi Party and the Congress in an attempt to hold back 'half the population' (women). Their action was directed against the very bill that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had introduced to empower and strengthen Nari Shakti (women's power), and which he strived to pass expeditiously."
Uttar Pradesh assembly is holding a one-day special session on Thursday. During the session, the government is set to move a censure motion against the opposition parties over their failure to pass the Constitution Amendment Bill, which would have led to implementation of the Women's Reservation Act, in the Lok Sabha.
