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ShareMumbai: A day after the state government took the decision to appoint Neela Satyanarayan as the first woman state election commissioner, questions have been raised as to when will women make it to the prime posts of chief secretary and BMC commissioner. Despite seniority and administrative abilities top women bureaucrats have been bypassed by their political masters for past several years.
"Rani Jadhav, Chandra Iyengar, Chitkala Zutshi were among officials who had rightful claims to the post of chief secretary almost two years ago. But successive chief ministers have preferred to bypass women bureaucrats for male chief secretaries," said a woman IAS officer.
While Zutshiand Jadhav have retired, Iyengar is serving as additional chief secretary in the home department.
Breaking away from the set precedent, chief minister Ashok Chavan on Thursday took the decision to appoint retired additional secretary Saytanarayan to head the election commission of Maharashtra.
"I am extremely happy that the government has given me an opportunity to shoulder the important institution of local elections," said Satyanarayan.
Satyanarayan retired three months ago as additional chief secretary in charge of revenue and forest department.
"When I joined the IAS services there was always an inbuilt bias against women. It was perceived that women bureaucrats will not be able to compete or match the administrative abilities of their male counterparts," she said.
Satyanarayan, who played a significant role fighting for the rights of women bureaucrats, said, "Through my new assignment I will try to strengthen the role of women in the election process professionally. We need to change the mindset in the system."
A senior officer in the CMO said, "We got the inspiration from Centre. In recent times, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has taken concrete steps to empower women in key positions, including Meira Kumar as Speaker of Lok Sabha."
Another aspect was that through Satyanarayan's appointment the government wanted to negate the unrest among women bureaucrats who were unhappy as chief secretary Johny Joseph got six months' extension last month.
"The political masters are clever. They reckon the power of women vote bank. Not surprisingly, the Centre has taken initiative to provide 50% reservations to women in local body elections. The Democratic Front has also committed itself to 33% reservations to women in electoral politics," said a woman bureaucrat.
