The Union Cabinet headed by PM Modi has approved the Women’s Reservation Bill. This bill was pending for the last 27 years. Under this, there is a provision of 33 percent reservation for women in elected institutions like Lok Sabha and Assemblies.
Women’s Reservation Bill
- Under the Women’s Reservation Bill, there is a provision to reserve 33 percent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
- This is a bill related to the 85th amendment of the Constitution.
- Out of this 33 percent reservation, there is also a provision to reserve one-third seats for women belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Despite being an important bill for gender equality and inclusive development, it has been stuck in limbo for a long time.
When and what happened on the Women’s Reservation Bill
- The Women’s Reservation Bill was introduced in 1996 by the then HD Deve Gowda government but it could not be passed.
- At that time this bill was introduced as the 81st Constitutional Amendment Bill. There was no provision for reservation for other backward classes in this bill.
- In the year 1998, the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government again introduced this bill in the Lok Sabha. This government, which was a coalition of several parties, also failed to pass the bill.
- The Vajpayee government had also tried to get it passed in 1999, 2002 and 2003-2004 but could not succeed.
- In the year 2008, the UPA government led by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also introduced this bill in the Rajya Sabha as the 108th Constitutional Amendment Bill.
- Due to opposition from some allies, the UPA government did not introduce this bill in the Lok Sabha and the bill again remained in limbo.
Preparation of Modi government
- Modi government is now preparing to present this bill afresh. This bill has been passed by the Rajya Sabha and the Rajya Sabha is a permanent house, hence this bill is still in existence. If this bill is passed in the Lok Sabha, it will become law after the approval of the President.
- If this bill is passed and becomes a law, then women will get 33 percent reservation in the 2024 elections, in which case every third member of the Lok Sabha will be a woman.
Women’s participation will increase
- This is the right time to pass 33 percent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and Assemblies. This bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010, due to which it is still alive. After this bill is passed, there will be a woman MP on every third seat in the Parliament.
Congress and BJP together on this bill
- The BJP government that came to power in 2014 did not pay attention to this bill during its first term, but as it is moving towards the end of its second term, the government wants to introduce and pass this bill. The opposition party Congress is also standing with the government regarding this bill.
- Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had written a letter to Prime Minister Modi in 2017 asking to support the government in passing this bill. In 2018, Rahul Gandhi had written a letter to the Prime Minister reiterating his support for the bill.