Saturday, August 6 2005 15:26 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Laws are being amended by the Central Government to give equal share to women in matters of succession in family property, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said today (Aug 6, 2005).

Speaking at BIZWOMEN 2005, a day-long conference for women entrepreneurs, he also said the Union Cabinet has approved a proposal to come out with a bill against domestic violence that would allow prosecuting those who indulge in such crimes.

Pointing out that the Government is exploring various ideas to provide reservation for women in State Legislatures and Parliament, the Minister exhorted women to speak up as to which is the best idea for them.

He wondered why women are not being 'accepted' as members of Parliament while they are being 'accepted' as Prime Ministers and Chief Ministers.

When a member of the audience pointed out that security is far more important for women as they cannot venture out at night for example, Chidambaram had a simple suggestion: 'Arm yourself.'

"Women should take self-defence measures", Chidambaram said, adding, there are a large number of devices available by which women can successfully 'repel' her potential assailant not kill him.

The Minister criticized banks for their 'pronounced bias' against women when it came to lending, and called for a positive change in their attitude. Repayment record of self-help groups run by women is as high as 98 per cent, he said.

Chidambaram underlined the need for empowering women, and blamed denial of credit for the women's 'lack of power'.

"It's not enough to pay lip sympathy; more credit must be available to women." According to him, women are far more focused and result-oriented than men, 'multi-tasking in particular.'

The Minister suggested to the women entrepreneurs to go in for credit rating

The Minister suggested to the women entrepreneurs that they go in for credit rating of their businesses, which would allow them to access capital better.

In this context, he said SIDBI is shortly floating a credit rating agency for small and medium businesses.

The conference had the theme 'growing your business to new heights.'

Experiences of some successful Indian businesswomen were shared at the meet to help entrepreneurs learn strategies instrumental to grow their business.

Some 200 women took part in the conference, which discussed issues pertaining to growing business, positioning one's company for the global marketplace, financing growth and reaching new heights.

Chairperson of Dale Carnegie & Walchand Capital, Pallavi Jha and Chairman and Managing Director of Rajshree Group, Rajshree Pathy, stressed on adopting a professional approach in running businesses and need for women to have a vision.

Mission Director, USAID/India, George Deikun, urged the Government to speed up policy reforms to improve environment in the small and medium enterprises space, pointing out that procedures and time taken to start a business in India is more than the Asian average and those prevailing in developed countries.