Finance Ministry mulling recruitment of more women cops for Delhi

Finance Minister P Chidambaram said it was part of efforts to do more for women as he rejected suggestions that the government's initiatives to ensure empowerment of the fair sex was merely "tokenism".

His comments came on a day when sevaral MPs voiced concern over the safety of women in the national capital.

"We are of course directly responsible for Delhi.... Only yesterday, I got the proposal from the Ministry of Home Affairs that we should recruit more women constables. And we are looking at it," Chidambaram told reporters here.

Law and order in Delhi is the direct responsibility of the Union Home Ministry, unlike other states where it is in the domain of state governments.

At the same time, Chidambaram said state governments have to do more for women's safety.

Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde had recently said the Delhi Police would soon launch a special drive for recruiting women constables and officers and appoint more women personnel in police stations.

The Home Minister issued the order in the backdrop of the public outrage over the gang-rape of a 23-year-old girl in the national capital on December 16. The girl died in a hospital in Singapore on December 29. Delhi has around 166 police stations and a police strength of nearly one lakh personnel.

Listing the measures taken by the government to instill confidence among women in the country, Chidambaram said his

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