Telangana gets a fully functional Women’s Commission after 2.5 years

Source:-https://indianexpress.com

Former minister Vakiti Sunitha Lakshma Reddy was appointed as chairperson of the Telangana state women’s commission, nearly two and a half years after the post fell vacant. The women’s commission also got six new members who will hold office till 2025.

Sunitha Lakshma Reddy was the minister for women and child welfare in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh government. An MLA from Narsapur assembly segment in Medak district, she joined the ruling TRS party in April 2019. And the new members are Shaheena Afroze, Kumara Eshwari Bai, Kommu Umadevi Yadav, Gaddala Padma, Sudham Lakshmi, and Katari Revathi Rao.

A fully functional women’s commission has been a longstanding demand of several women’s groups in the last couple of years. Activist Spurthi Kolipaka, who has been mobilising support for the cause, hailed the state government’s decision.

She tweeted: “My timeline is filled with cheer! Congratulations to all of us who put up this fight of almost 30 months! Extremely grateful for the journey, community, learnings, relationships. My State seems pretty hopeful now <3 <3”

Tripurana Venkataratnam, who headed the Commission, had demitted office in July 2018. A PIL was filed in the Telangana High Court by social activist R Ramya Rao seeking directions to the government for the appointment of the Chairperson to the Commission. The high court on December 2 had directed the state government to appoint the Chairperson before December 31.