Prime Minister Manmohan calls for collective fight

Citing the last year's horrificA Delhi gang-rapeA incident and the gruesomeA assault on five-year-old girlA here, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said there was a need to make "vast improvements" to ensure women's safety in the country.A He asked people to work collectively to uproot such depravity from the society.

"It is widely accepted that, as a country, we have vast improvements to make in these (safety, security and status of women) areas. These issues came into sharper focus after the horrific gang-rape incident in Delhi last December.

"The gruesomeA assault on a little childA a few days back reminds us of the need to work collectively to root out this sort of depravity from our society," Dr. Singh said.

The two brutal incidents � gang-rape of a girl in a moving bus on December 16 last year and rape of a five-year-old girl earlier this week � had resulted in agitations by various sections, demanding better law and order to ensure women's security and stringent punishment to the culprits.

The Prime Minister said the agitations that have followed the two incidents also point to the need for showing concern and sensitivity while dealing with public anxiety that such incidents generate.

"Our government has moved with speed in strengthening the law to be able to deal more effectively with offences against women. However, this is but a small part of what needs to be done.

"All of us, as responsible citizens, have a special obligation to contribute to the social and economic empowerment of women in our country," he said, inaugurating the 8th Civil Services Day function here.