NEW DELHI: Women MPs have urged Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu sought more female representation in the 31-member Parliamentary Standing Committee that would discuss a bill seeking to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21.
The panel headed by BJP Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe has only one woman MP, TMC’s Sushmita Dev. Both Dev and Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi appealed to Naidu to induct more women MPs in the panel.
Raising concerns in her letter to Naidu, Chaturvedi wrote that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports would be deliberating the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill.
It is disheartening to note that a bill so pertinent to women and the Indian society will be deliberated upon in a committee where the representation is highly skewed, she said.
“I request you to ensure that there should be more representation and participation of women in the discussion around the bill that concerns the issues faced by women in India. It is of utmost importance that the interests of all stakeholders are taken into account and that voices of all, especially women, are heard and understood by the committee,” she said.
Expressing surprise over the constitution of the committee, Dev said all women MPs should be allowed to give their views and suggestions regarding the bill to the panel chairman.
She wrote to Sahasrabuddhe requesting him to invoke rule no 84 (3) and 275 of the Rules of Procedures and Conduct of Business in the Council of States to allow all women MPs to testify before the committee.
“The Rajya Sabha has 29 women MPs and the Lok Sabha has 81 women MPs. I am sure all my female colleagues will have much to contribute to the discussions on this issue,” the TMC MP said.