Margaret Alva releases her Autobiography in Jaipur

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Women are being empowered not just in the Parliament but also at the local and grassroot level bodies. This has led to the emergence of the ‘human’ side of development, said the ex Governor of Rajasthan, Ms. Margaret Alva. She was speaking at the book release of her autobiography ‘Courage and Commitment’ in Jaipur. Ms. Alva was in conversation with senior journalist, Ms. Nupur Basu. Ms. Margaret Alva also highlighted the misogynistic hurdles that came in the way of passing the legislation for reservation of seats for women in the decision making bodies. Taking place at Hotel Hilton, the event was an initiative of ‘Prabha Khaitan Foundation’ and was presented by ‘We care’ and ‘Raghu Sinha Mala Mathur Memorial Trust’.

Ms. Margaret Alva also shared her experience of fighting against the social evil of Sati during her tenure as the Union Minister for Women and Child Development. She talked about her initiative of setting up homes for young widows where skill training was imparted to them to make them economically self sufficient.

While talking about the book itself, Ms. Margaret Alva said that she has dedicated the book to her husband who is responsible for all that she has achieved in life. She said that the book is a description of her life story and details her trials and triumphs, and confronts the controversies that have outlined her career.

The ex-Governor also threw light on her relationship with the Gandhi family. In fact, she revealed that she gave the second copy of her book to Ms. Sonia Gandhi, the first being her husband. She also narrated some humorous anecdotes from her political career like when she was forced to dance by the then visiting Portuguese President in Goa. She also had the audience in splits when she narrated her meeting with the well known Cuban leader, Fidel Castro who lifted her up to check her weight.

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