NCP to organise social justice conference on foundation day

NCP will celebrate its 12th foundation day on June 10 by organising a 'Social justice conference' in Mumbai and has decided to dedicate the day by raising its voice for oppressed sections of the society, party chief Sharad Pawar said today.

Talking to reporters, he said there are several legislations for the backward classes which need to be redrafted to keep pace with the changing times.

"A committee headed by state unit president Madhukar Pichad will look into various state and central government laws meant for the upliftment of backward classes and suggest what corrective measures need to be taken to improve the schemes. The committee will also study programmes and policies of other states before preparing a report and submitting it to the Maharashtra government and Centre," Pawar said.

The NCP leader denied that the focus on backward classes upliftment had anything to do with the local bodies polls.

"This is nothing new. Our focus has always been on the weaker sections," he said.

Pawar said Maharashtra under his leadership as chief minister was the first to implement the 33% reservation for women in local bodies, and the mandal commission recommendations.

We also renamed the Marathwada university after dalit icon BR Ambedkar, he said.

"We were the first to come out with a women's policy in the early 90s. All this was done not for electoral gains. Most of the time there were losses," he added.