Budapest, June 21: The Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s visit has stirred the highest ambitions in Hungarian women. The Hungarian Prime Minister, Mr. Jeno Fock, told Mrs. Gandhi during the talks yesterday that his wife had been badgering him for not doing enough for the uplift of Hungarian women. When Mr. Fock related to his wife the various measures being taken by the Government, Mrs. Fock retorted: “but when will a woman become Hungary’s Prime Minister?” Mr. Fock replied: “That can only be when I quit.” The two delegations burst into laughter as Mr. Fock related this piece of conversation. Like Czechoslovakia, Hungary is faced with shortage of manpower. To solve this problem, it gives many fiscal inducements to those who are prepared to have more children. Despite social security measures, the preference in both the countries is only for small families, with not more than two or three children. Mr. Fock told Mrs. Gandhi when Hungary recognised Bangladesh how Pakistan first snapped its diplomatic ties and later restored them. The Hungarian Prime Minister said: “We recognised Bangladesh on January 26. Immediately, Pakistan broke off its diplomatic relations. Privately, they whispered we should not take it seriously. Soon enough they restored the ties.” Faced with problems of generation gap as elsewhere in the world, the Hungarians have brought down the voting age from 21 to 18. Anyone above 18 can also stand for elections to Parliament, a unicameral legislature.
