Breaking News: Women’s Reservation Bill Successfully Passes in Lok Sabha

According to the INDIAN CONSTITUTION’s 108th Women Reservation Bill, 2008, women should have a third (33%) of the seats in state legislative assemblies and the Parliament. Within the 33% quota, the law suggests sub-reservation for SCs, STs, and Anglo-Indians. For several state or union territory constituencies rotation allocation of the reserved seats could be an option also. Reservation of seats for women shall cease to exist 15 years after the commencement of this Amendment Act.

The issue of reservation for women in politics can be traced back to the Indian national movement. In 1931, leader Begum Shah Nawaz and Sarojini Naidu submitted the official memorandum jointly issued on the status of women in the new Constitution in their letter to the British Prime Minister.

The National Perspective Plan for Women recommended in 1988 that reservation be provided to women’s rights from the level of the panchayat to that of Parliament.

the reservation bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on March 9, 2010, approximately 13 years ago but Lok Sabha never passed on the bill. A political party recently pushed to pass this much waited for a reservation bill in Parliament. The Bill will now be taken by the Rajya Sabha for passage in the remaining two days of the Special Session of Parliament and might require approval from half of the States.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked all the Loksabha members and tweeted “I thank MPs across Party lines who voted in support of this Bill,”. 

the bill has passed with 454 votes in favor and two against it. the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s Asaduddin Owaisi and Syed Imtiyaz Jaleel had opposed the Bill.  Congress leader Sonia Gandhi opened the debate on the issue. She said, “For the last 13 years, Indian women have been waiting for their political responsibilities, and now they are being asked to wait for a few more years – two years, four years, six years, eight years,”.

“There is one thing in my view that makes this Bill incomplete. I think the OBC reservation should have been included in this Bill. Two things seem strange to me – one is the idea that you require a new census and the second is that you required a new delimitation to implement this Bill.” Rahul Gandhi said.

Union Minister Smriti Irani also slammed the Congress saying “The Congress had proposed women’s quota for not more than 15 years, but BJP guarantees reservation of seats for women. I express my gratitude towards PM Modi and Law Minister (Arjun Ram Meghwal) who didn’t allow this desire of the Congress to become a reality,” Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’ (NSVA), or THE WOMEN RESERVATION BILL is scheduled to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, 21 September, after being cleared by the Lok Sabha the previous day.