Women have always managed the household and agricultural activities well. Men have also been working hard and are well educated. However, the scenario has changed now as girls are performing well in studies. They have proven themselves in the teaching field too. While I was working in Tolani Institute, I always used to seek assistance to improve my soft skills from a lady lecturer whose cubicle was just ahead of mine. She was a very competent teacher and used to teach electrical engineering. A mathematics teacher often used to stop her car and offer me lift whenever she found me walking. She was very courteous and competent teacher. Several lady dentists are polite and well mannered.
Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari is in favour of lifting the ban on E-rickshaws and wants to bring legislation in the parliament. He should provide 50 per cent reservation to women drivers in these vehicles. Women have proved to be good drivers of motor vehicles. Many of them should be encouraged to drive e-rickshaws which will make women secure while using public transport. Our ship used to anchor at Navlakhi in Gujarat and families used to board it for cargo discharging. Later, in the evening, they used to prepare food on the deck. I always used to procure “bajra roti” from them in exchange for soap, old clothing and empty drums. The barge men used to take bottles from us and purchase milk from the shore.
In the villages, men were also very hard working no doubt but they indulged in lot of anti social and criminal activities too. For instance, they will brew crude alcohol from “mahua”( I can still not forget its unique fragrance) and drink it indiscriminately spoiling their health in the long run. Subsequently, their wives will come to their rescue. You should see films like Ganga Jamuna, Mother India, Naya Daur to view all the good and bad aspects of life. Women are performing a good job in “gram panchayats”. Infact, all the development must commence from the grassroots level with the assistance of local level administration, the corporate, rich cricketers and film stars. Time and again, I have said that wealth creation is important but it must be equally distributed among people. The biggest problem the world is facing today is the existence of huge gap between the super-rich and poor people. It is necessary to bridge this gap for promoting equitable development.