Pending for 27 years, Women’s Reservation Bill set for litmus test again: How can it change course of history
The historic decision to pass the Women’s Reservation Bill was taken by the Union Cabinet yesterday, during the Special Session of the Parliament.
The Union Cabinet has finally cleared the Women’s Reservation Bill on Monday, the first day of the Special Session of the Parliament. After being pending for 27 years, the PM Narendra Modi-led cabinet took the historic decision to pass the bill, set to change the course of history.
The decision to clear the bill is historic in a very prominent sense, increasing the presence of women in the democratic decision-making process of the government and the Parliament. This bill means that there will be a larger presence of women in the Parliament than the country has ever seen.
Under the Women’s Reservation Bill, there will be a 33 percent reservation of seats in the Lok Sabha for women, increasing their presence in the country. While BJP and Congress have always been in support of the bill, many Opposition parties have resisted the clearing of the bill.
Majority of the state assemblies across the country have less than 10 percent of women representation, while only 15 percent of the Lok Sabha strength consists of women MPs. 78 women members were elected in the Lok Sabha, which account for less than 15 per cent of the total strength of 543.
Similarly in the Rajya Sabha, the strength of women is just 14 percent, as quoted by the data shared by the Parliament last year. The same applies to a large number of state assemblies in India, which see less than 10 percent of female representation.
State assemblies such as Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Odisha, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura and Puducherry have less than 10 percent women representation.
The clearing of this bill is set to change the course of history as it will now mandate 33 percent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha as well as the state assemblies, with one third of the seats reserved for women belonging to Scheduled Castes of Scheduled Tribes, a move which has not yet been taken before.