In the local bodies, there are about 250,000 elected officials ranging from a member of Gram Panchayat to Mayors of Municipal Corporation and chairpersons of Zilla Parishads and of these, over 85,000 are women; and the reservation for women has been operative since 1987.
These developments, which are shared in different ways by other States, give a positive twist to the outlook for empowerment of women for the future. The exploration on the future of India will not be complete without reference to a book by my predecessor Dr. Bimal Jalan with the title 'Future of India : Politics, Economics and Governance'.