Guntur :

In a rare honour, a woman congress leader Gara Usharani has been invited by United States of America (USA) for a three-week state sponsored visit to explore the federal political system of USA. Usha is one of the few to get the invitation from across the nation and only woman from AP. US state department invited select young leaders from across the globe to have a close look at the political administration of its government under International Visitor Leader Programme (IVLP). Usha is presently serving as all-india general secretary of Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) and in-charge of women wing.

A multi-talented woman, Usha is basically a Sports Authority of India (SAI) trained badminton coach and also an ace athlete. She joined the congress party at the very young age and worked in the youth congress in the team of Rahul Gandhi at the national level. She was all india general secretary of youth congress when Rahul was in-charge. She was in-charge of Youth congress affairs in various states. After seeing her authority on various languages and ability to act as trouble shooter in crisis management, INTUC chief Sanjeev Reddy took her into his team and appointed her as national level women wing chief. Usha is presently working on various women related issues in the implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). “It is a privilege to get the opportunity to study the US political administration,” said Usha.

She said that as per the programme, the US officials would introduce the structures and functions of the U.S. federalist system of government, with emphasis on the division of authority and responsibility between federal, state, and local governments and the courts. She said that they would also demonstrate successful models of cooperation among state and local governments, non-governmental organizations, community organizations, and the business sector.

“Exploring the role and structure of ethics in government and business in the United States and illustrate the principles underlying transparency and accountability will be main task of the tour,” said Usha. The tour will begin on April, 4 and culminate on April, 25. She explained that there would be roundtable on women in politics during the tour in which representatives of the Women’s Democracy Network (WDN), Running Start and Women’s Policy, Inc. (WPI) would join for a conversation on building political aspirations and power among women both in the United States and across the world.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hyderabad / by M N Samdani, TNN / March 29th, 2015