With Lok Sabha convening in the new Parliament building for the first time, PM Narendra Modi announced the tabling of the Women's Reservation Bill — which aims to provide a 33 per cent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state legislatures.
Delivering his maiden speech in the new Lok Sabha chamber, PM Modi announced that the Union Cabinet had given its approval to the bill on Monday. The prime minister said the bill is being taken as the first proceeding of the House and that it will open gateways for women in power.
"Taking forward our resolve of women-led development, our government is bringing an important constitutional amendment bill. The bill is aimed at expanding the membership of women in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. 'Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam' will further empower our democracy," PM Modi said.
"Discussion on Women's Reservation Bill happened for a long time. During Atal Bihari Vajpayee's regime Women's Reservation Bill was introduced several times but there was not enough majority to pass the Bill, and because of this this dream remained incomplete. Today, God has given me the opportunity to take this forward...Our government is bringing a new Bill today on Women's participation in both Houses...," he added.
According to reports, the new bill will be similar to the bill brought by the UPA regime in 2010. The bill introduced by the UPA sought a 33 per cent quota for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures, with one-third of seats allocated for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) --- to be reserved for women from those groups. The bill had been passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010 but was not taken up by the Lok Sabha.
To come into effect only after delimitation
According to a report by NDTV, the reservation will be implemented only after the delimitation process is completed in 2026. This means the bill may come into operation only by 2029. Reservation is only for the LS and state assembly seats and will not be applicable to Rajya Sabha and legislative councils.
The bill, upon becoming an act, will be in force for 15 years. However, its term can be extended.
Similarly, amendments to two articles that included reservation for the Anglo-Indian community have been dropped from the Modi government's version of the bill, as reported by NDTV.
Meanwhile, the bill retains the reservation for SCs and STs from the 2010 draft. However, it does not include any allocation for OBCs after speculation ran rife over the group's addition under the bill's ambit
With a bilateral consensus on women's representation in politics, any bill introduced on this issue is expected to pass both Houses comfortably, unlike the bill introduced in the PM Manmohan Singh regime — which faced opposition from UPA allies and some leaders within the Congress.
Currently, women represent only 15 per cent of seats in the Lok Sabha, with 78 women out of 543 members, while the Rajya Sabha has approximately 14 per cent women representation.
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