New Delhi: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on January 24 urged political parties to join hands with the government in giving greater representation to women in Parliament even as he stressed on changing the mindset of people on issues like female foeticide and education.

"We support the demand for 33 per cent reservation for women but we do not have enough numbers to change or enact the Law in this regard. Efforts are on for a consensus on the issue. We appeal to other political parties to join hands with us to ensure that women's representation goes up," Vajpayee said.

He was addressing members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Mahila Morcha who had gone to felicitate him for enacting several far-reaching Legislations supportive of women.

Condemning discrimination based on gender, he said the rights of Indian women were encroached upon under the guise of protecting them during alien invasion and rules.

Vajpayee regretted that female foeticide was rampant even in highly progressive states. According to statistics available in the last 10 years, he said as many as 14 lakh cases of female foeticide were registered and gender ratio vis-a-vis women was less in states like Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Gujarat.

"This is not a good thing and there is a need to change the mindset, which is possible only through education", he said.

The Prime Minister said it would be far better to prevent pregnancies rather than going in for killing the foetus.

He said education for women was crucial as they took care of the whole family.

Vajpayee said that the government had decided to change the Law pertaining to evidence in rape cases as the victims were often humiliated during cross-examination in courts, which prevented from approaching the law enforcement authorities.

PTI