Interview with Smt. Margaret Alva, Hon'ble Member of Parliament, during her visit to Dubai.

Smt. Alva has been a leading figure in Indian Politics and created a niche for herself with her powerful communicational skills and down to earth temperament. She has maintained the true image of Indian women with her ethnic ness and is always so immaculately draped in the Indian sari.  She is the wife of Mr. Niranjan Alva & the daughter-in-law of very reputed politicians Shri. Joaquim & Violet Alva.

She was happy to know that daijidubai.com / konkandaiz.com is doing such a tremendous and yeoman task in preserving the culture and tradition of our mother tongue.  We the Konkani speaking community deem it a pride and honor to have her answer the questions asked to her by Ms. Elaine Fernandes our correspondent.

Q:  What inspired you to join politics?
The factors
The people
Your advise to young Indian women who aspire to join politics.
A: Circumstances and events beyond my control.

I married into a political family in 1964 but never considered politics an option.  I was a happy, contented housewife with two children, when my mother-in-law died suddenly in 1969.

The Congress Party had just split, the "Syndicate" younger people were rallying round her progressive agenda had expelled Indira Gandhi and there was family pressure on me to carry on with the family tradition?  My parents-in-law Joachim & Violet Alva was the first couple in the Indian Parliament, had been freedom fighters and committed to the Congress ideology. So, I became a Member of the Party, and when my husband Niranjan was posted to Bangalore in June 1970, became a full time Party worker and later State Convener of the Women's Wing of the Party.  Recognizing my work, Indira Gandhi brought me to the Rajya Sabha in 1974 at the age of 32 years.

My mother-in-law was a great inspiration to me?  As a wife, a mother, a politician and a patriot, she was humane and a true woman in every respect.

Indira Gandhi inspired a whole generation of young people to join her, in her battle against poverty and obscurantism.  I admired her courage and determination to make India a secular, socialist state with justice for all.

Q: As a Politician and more as a Lady.  What do you feel are your contributions to Indian women, especially the rural folk?
A: India is a country in which women face many problems.  Despite the constitutional guarantee of equality, they are socially and economically, unequal. As an MP and as a Minister, I have helped amend several laws, which affect women and their rights, introduced new legislation, Government funded programmes and schemes for them.

Essentially, as Minister for Women in the Rajiv Gandhi Government, I helped to move the focus of programmes for women from Welfare to Development.  The 73rd & 74th (superscript) Constitution amendments brought in at that time (though passed later) reserved for women 33% seats and posts in all local bodies bringing 1.2 million women into urban and rural elected local bodies.
Together with other women MP's and activists, I am carrying on the struggle to move these reservations up, to the State assemblies and to the Parliament.

I am founder President of KARUNA an all India NGO for women and children. Our programmes cover hostels for working women, training cum employment generation programmes, awareness generation and legal aid and training women elected to local bodies.
 
Q: Why has the reservation bill not yet been passed?
A: The bill is pending in Parliament because Parliament is male dominated and they do not want to risk their own constituencies under the reserved quota.  They do not want a vote in Parliament because they do not want to expose their opposition to the bill