on the. baker john structures are can live with the words struck by the deep. cuts. a recipe for success strategy that make a difference. baking bread on the job. this is the news asia coming up on the program what will it take for india to finally see more women in parliament as the country enters the fourth phase of its massive election we have a special report from west bengal where a leading political candidate is trying to break through the glass ceiling plus. the end of an era japan's emperor and he told prepares to step down from his royal duties and hand over his old row.

i'm melissa chan welcome to news asia it's good to have you with us indians have voted in the fourth phase of polling in the country's month long general elections voters will elect a new parliament and prime minister narendra modi from the ruling hindu b j p party is seeking a second term his main challenger is leader of the opposition congress party raul gandhi the election is the world's biggest with nine hundred million people eligible to vote they were elected five hundred forty three m.p.'s to the lower house of parliament called the lok sabha polling has been spread out across the country in seven phases today voters went to the polls across nine states this includes parts of the state of west bengal where one political party is fielding a significant number of female candidates. forty one percent that's the highest

number from any party this election correspondent sonja sally car travels to west bengal to meet. of the trinamool congress. in. it's early morning in whistling goals not their district politics here is a festive appeared it's dominated by the ruling t.n.c. or tournament congress party and the start of the show here is the party's. she quit a prestigious job as president of j.p. morgan in london in two thousand and eight. return to india and plunged into politics fulfilling a long held dream. when i was a kid if you asked me what i wanted to become i never said that. i was i want to be the i want to be want to be in a position to make millions more throws been doing that as an elected local lawmaker for the last four years. she's now i have

a seat in the national parliament there's little doubt about who's in charge here she's angry about a change in the route the former investment banker is a rare sight in indian politics still largely a boys' club she goes curious crowds mainly women in these parts but the forty two year old who is also a national spokesperson for her party dismisses any questions about agenda and politics. as a politician. i think very few women's issues if you're fighting such basic grassroots politics if you've got a bad road it's a bad road that a woman walks on that it's a bad road that up a man walks on so i don't think that i can make a road that only women will walk on so i think most issues here are issues that are generic for everybody you know poverty infrastructure drinking water. through attributes hopefully tacl rise to hard work and passion it's part she believes is open to any woman willing to take. her own party the t.m.c.

is heavily promoting women candidates the push has come from the very top when all is currently the only state of india that led by a woman chief minister mamata banerjee has often described as a firebrand leader and is a vocal opponent of prime minister rainfall and in this election his feeling women in a record forty one percent think home party investigate. it's the highest number in this election but that doesn't mask the fact that india has one of the world's lowest rates of female lawmakers in parliament at just eleven percent so i mean the experts the parties need to do much more to change that women and also all political parties have set up separately and that's necessary but the question is how many of them are there a decision making. general committee executive committee is the other big. issue

is how to make the environment more suitable for women who are comfortable for women to acting joy in all this this arena on their own accord. back on the campaign trail. mix a quick stop to meet potence she's treated like a rock star. but she has little time she plans to cover hundreds of polling stations in the next days. that means many more like this one every handshake and car and. she faces a tough challenge from prime minister nuri in the movies hindu nationalist party which is ready for it this election is unlike any election we've had since independence and here it is election for the idea of india we are fighting to remove madiba fighting to save the very idea of india that i'm going to win one hundred percent of the question of how large my victory margin will be temperatures have already soared to more than thirty five degrees but there's no way. it's going

to get a date anytime soon. so there are more and more female candidates hoping to change india's political landscape but what do young women think about their representation in parliament we hit the streets of delhi to find out i wouldn't like you work for a woman just. a fear that if there are bird number of women in the parliament then . in the main members they would be dominating as such and the only issue is equal equal and then i think any she would decide in a better wing in a society like india of a women have been long oppressed i think it's really important that women are step up and coming to heaven is they used you see it more evan you should be created for women or they should step into corporate public administration we need to amend the remember presented in politics are from us. from the privileged background and only those kind of the men i represented just because of. do they could have some kind

of. but i would. joining us now is angelica the former general secretary of the national students' union of india she writes about politics and gender angelica it's interesting in that earlier report the candidate was pretty adamant she didn't want to be referred to as a female candidate now identity politics is tricky what do you think is going on there is she afraid she's going to lose votes from men. generally you know that is one of the reasons i believe because the fact that a woman has to distance herself from agenda is a testament of the fact that identity politics is very crucial because generally even when you look at the u.s. elections hillary clinton has the real distance of more often and present herself as a strong and capable leader similarly india we have this all just. ensures that women do not you know women candidates are often not voice seen as

a woman because of the studio dives where they are seen as we are and in capital but if different then and if they try to fit in as a male candidate when more often than not there's water to power the thing is even when when you go and ask a meal can be viewed whether he is seen as a male candidate they win even it's not even a question of gender there but for a woman candidate gender becomes a primary factor. now there are some shining examples in indian history for example indira gandhi having been elected prime minister in the one nine hundred sixty s. you have the current defense and foreign ministers who are women but in parliament the percentage is still dismal why do you think that is give us a couple of the main reasons. indian society is very patriarchal and it has been sold currently we have just eleven point eight percent of women in our. assemblies and parliament the reason is

because of political parties we don't still have a. system there is no voluntary gender in the political parties as well and because of which politics parties do not have the political will to fill gangs of youths to become gang beatings or to feel women as candidates so that's one of the reason reasons apart from that we have guns of sexism and misogyny that is inherent within the system which ensures that women in general use of. i see a lot of young women you know entering into the system with a lot of creation but they don't remain so for a long time because politics is also not a job that pays you so they have to sustain themselves and it becomes very difficult in terms of family pressure financial pressure and societal pressure so women tend to stay out of it more often than not. now i really want to follow up on what you said about the gender quota is that what's necessary do you think that's

the main change that's going to get us to gender parity. yeah indeed in india we absolutely need to start at this point in time because we have just eleven point eight percent in our parliament and if we are back in one thousand nine hundred three when the constitution amendment was brought in. for due reservation in the local governments it brought on the revolutionary change where women's participation change from three percent to four percent to forty two percent so that is what is required at the higher ranks of government as well right now. angelica thank you. we head to japan now where in error is ending this week emperor akihito abdicates tomorrow after three decades on the throne the eighty five year old will hand over official duties to his fifty nine year old son not hito now the royal plant family plays no part in governance or politics in the country their roles are ceremonial and symbolic when prince not

he took becomes emperor he will put on some very special robes representing the prominence of a royal house that stretches back some fourteen hundred years. that emperor akihito paying his respects to shouldn't shrine. it's one of his last settlement he says japan's head of state before the second world war japan's emperor was treated like a god today he has a more don't ask rule as a symbolic figurehead but the tradition of the emperor is carried in the garments he wears during his coronation. well that's got the north at least a little the motif of the chinese phoenix on the emperor's kimono symbolizes the peace that takes hold with the enthronement of a new sovereign of. the golden brown color who was only the emperor is allowed to wear it refers to the sun that. the japanese royal family are said to be descendants of a sudden god s.

called. when the new emperor nera he too and his wife must awada are introduced to the public the rubes the where symbolize the physical weight of responsibility on their shoulders. all the layers of previous robes weighed more than twelve kilograms together and kills them. now he choose coronation represents the culmination of tradition spawning some one hundred twenty five generations. you can find more on this and other stories on our website that's dot com forward slash asia and check us out on facebook as well we'll leave you with pictures from hong kong where tens of thousands of residents protested on sunday against a proposed extradition law it would make it possible for people to be sent to mainland china for trial that's a move many see here will put the city's freedoms at risk we'll see you next time.

he needs to know a sex phone operator who worked her masters thesis on the potato. to greet. not to turn on well it's more words that there was from their. list international and strange. it's time to take stock. of face. time during

just such deals. and the fun for the troops. is hard to overcome the trends and connections. it's time for. and you don't really use coming up ahead. mines. is global market stability at stake iranian officials say u.s. sanctions against their oil industry are a danger to the world. japan is said to lose an emperor but could it also lose its position as the world's third largest economy. and what the human eye can see using the latest full truck high definition cameras to ensure our roads a safe. let's do business if donald trump has his way

a radiant oil exports will cease next month ramped up sanctions will hit hard international monetary fund expects a ruds recession to deepen saying the economy could for tracked by six percent. here in teheran people are exchanging rio's as fast as they can faith in the iranian currency has fallen dramatically it now takes a stack of them one hundred forty four thousand at the moment to purchase a single dollar and most people fear the u.s. sanctions will drive the rio down even further. of course the country's revenues are going to drop and maybe the real value will drop as well and the endo the pressure that they're putting on is pressure on the people. some people have fixed limited wages like on.