Political parties promised a range of sops in this summer’s assembly elections—and the one that caught much attention and triggered a compelling debate was by debutant politician Kamal Haasan and a few parties in Kerala. This is about paying salary to homemakers for their work. Should they get paid, or not? Bhavna Vij-Aurora interviewed Union minister for women and child development Smriti Irani for her views. Irani asks a pertinent question to make her point: Can and should the State assign monetary value to an invaluable relationship between mother and child or for that matter a husband and wife? Instead, we need to enhance our engagement to ensure women get equal opportunities to be skilled and get educated and should they choose to be self-employed women, they should have access to financial credit to accomplish their entrepreneurial ambitions, the minister says. Excerpts