New Delhi, Mar 2 (ANI): Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer today said with 12 lakh Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) of panchayats, the public image of women has changed drastically in India.

Inaugurating a two-day National Seminar on Findings of the Study on Elected Women Representatives in Village Panchayats here, Aiyar said, "The women have been empowered politically and socially, and the level of social and political empowerment is without a parallel anywhere in the world."

"We have invited both intellectuals and EWRs to share a common platform and assess objectively what we have achieved so far and what remains to be achieved towards empowerment of women," he added.

Flagging his expectations from the seminar, he said that this would definitely come out with a road map for removing the road blocks, if any, towards substantive empowerment of elected women representatives.

The objective of the seminar is to promote a dialogue between the intellectual and experts engaged in the field of Panchayati Raj and its working and the women representatives of panchayats functioning at the grassroots level. (ANI)