Srinagar, April 16 -- While taking my first oath as a Minister of State, I looked around the packed room and made a count. The number of women present in that space could be counted on a single hand. This visual left a mark, not as a personal achievement, but as a clear indication of the long distance that women are yet to traverse in the public sphere.

I belong to a small village near Puttur in coastal Karnataka, a traditionally rich region, where women have always shown their resilience and strength. I know what it meant to channel that strength into public life, to walk a path that few had walked before and how not every woman gets the same chance with that same fire.

The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam has already been passed. The Parl...