Renu Devi becomes first female Deputy Chief Minister Bihar

As the global pandemic continues to wreak havoc in our lives, a pleasant news regarding women empowerment suddenly springs up to make our day better. BJP’s Renu Devi, a 62 year old widow and mother of two becomes the first woman deputy chief minister of Bihar. She was elected as the fifth deputy CM in BJP legislature on Sunday, November 15th 2020.

She has been making headlines as she is the first woman in this position. She took the oath at Raj Bhawan on November 16th,2020 in Patna.

Renu Devi belongs to the Nonia Caste which is considered to be a part of the ‘Extremely Backward Caste ‘ in Bihar. She is the 5th woman in the country to become a Deputy CM.

Previously Renu Devi had been elected from the constituency of Bettiah to the legislative assembly of Bihar 4 times (2000,2010,2020 and twice in 2005). She is a formal vice president of BJP. Renu Devi joined the party in the year 1988 as a part of its Mahila Morcha or women’s wing. Her career had actually started back in 1981 as a social activist. In 1999 she became the head of the women’s wing of the party in the region of Champaran, Bihar. She served as the wing’s state head back in 1993 as well as in 1996. She was also appointed as the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture in the Bihar state Government from 2005 to 2009.

However she did face a downfall in her career when she contested her first election from BJP in 1995 from the Nautan Assembly seat and lost.

That didn’t hold her back from pursuing her career and she went on to become an MLA for 4 times in Bihar.

Her indomitable spirit acts as an example for all the aspiring women of the country not only in the political field but in all fields of life. She has really lived upto the statement, “Failures are the pillars of Success “.

But there are some things which need to be acted upon as soon as possible within the state of Bihar. Even after the government’s concerted efforts, segregation based on the caste system continues to be a defining feature of life.

A district named Bhagalpur in Bihar was the center of tension when Mahadalit women were denied entry to the Kali temple. Dozens of Mahadalit women were barred from entering temples. The women who were denied entry into the 200 year old Kali temple on Friday, had decided to lodge a written complaint to the administration and request their intervention to provide justice. This incident dates back to 8th July , 2017. Another incident took place on 6th May, 2017. A Dalit family in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur was allegedly denied entry into a temple and were thrashed for putting up a fight. The family members lodged a complaint to the Sakra police about this. However a lot of villagers debunked this news stating that the family was irked for demanding that they stop the music and started a brawl. The village priest denied all the allegations about not allowing people to enter the temple.

Another problem which needs to be solved is the problem of gender inequality. The country still suffers from serious problems of gender inequality, cases of domestic violence and sexual harassment among others and one major reason for the situation is because the women parliamentarians have limited powers and are largely underrepresented in the government. There are 176 male MPs as compared to the 78 women MPs in the Lok Sabha and only 20 out of 240 MPs in the Legislative assembly are women.

According to NCRB, the number of cases reported on crimes against women have been increasing in the last 3 years. UP has again topped the list with 59853 cases accounting for 14.7% cases across the country against women followed by Rajasthan (41550 cases accounting for 10.2%) and Maharashtra (37144 cases accounting for 9.2%).

These are some problems which should be worked on as soon as possible. We all expect equality in all aspects in the near future.