Women’s reservation: The bill will come into force after the delimitation exercise

The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023, was presented for introduction in the House of Commons through a supplementary list of matters.

In the current Lok Sabha, 82 women members were elected, representing less than 15 percent of the total strength of 543. In Rajya Sabha too, women’s representation is around 14 percent, according to the data shared by the government with Parliament last time. December.

Details of the Women’s Reservation Bill

The government said a women’s reservation bill is intended to enable greater participation of women in policymaking at the state and national levels. The statement of purpose of the bill states that the role of women is extremely important to achieve the goal of India becoming a developed country by 2047.

The women’s reservation will come into effect after delimitation has taken place and will remain in force for fifteen years. The seats reserved for women will be rotated after each delimitation exercise, the bill said.

Women Reservation Bill: A Brief History

The last concrete development in this regard came in 2010, when Rajya Sabha passed the bill, amid an uproar from marshals accompanying some MPs who opposed the decision to reserve 33 percent seats for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies. could not be passed by Lok Sabha.

While the BJP and Congress have always supported the bill, opposition from other parties and demands by some for quotas for backward classes within the women’s quota have been major sticking points.

The 2008 bill, which was passed in Rajya Sabha in 2010 before it lapsed after the dissolution of Lok Sabha, also proposed to reserve one-third of all seats in Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies in each state for women. The UPA was in power when the last attempt was made to pass the bill.

Before the failed 2008-2010 attempt, the issue had a checkered history, as a similar bill was introduced in 1996, 1998 and 1999.

A Joint Parliamentary Committee chaired by Geeta Mukherjee had examined the 1996 bill and made seven recommendations.

Five of these were included in the 2008 bill, including the 15-year reservation period and sub-reservation for Anglo-Indians.

These also include reservations in cases where a state has less than three seats in Lok Sabha (or less than three seats for SCs/STs); booking for the meeting in Delhi; and changing “not less than one third” to “as near as possible, one third.”

*With input from the agency

Updated: Sep 19, 2023 5:09 PM IST