Opposition parties demanded the long-stalled Women's Reservation Bill reintroduction in the Winter Session. The demands were being made at a Lok Sabha Business Advisory Committee meeting. The speaker of the Lok Sabha, Om Birla, presided over the meeting.
The law aims to provide women a third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures. Former Prime Minister Deve Gowda's United Front administration implemented it. The Bill was then introduced in 1988, 1999, and 2008. The Bill appeared in the Rajya Sabha in 2008. In 2010, after passing through the standing committee, it was then submitted to the Lok Sabha by the Upper House. The Bill lapsed along with the end of the 15th Lok Sabha in 2014.
Sudip Bandhopadhyay, the Trinamool floor leader, urged that the Bill be part of the agenda in the Winter Session of Parliament. The winter session starts on Wednesday. Rajiv Ranjan Singh, the Lok Sabha MP and national president of the JD(U), seconded the notion.
According to sources, he said that the JD(U) had before rejected the Bill on the grounds of OBC reservation. JD(U) rejected the bill along with the RJD and Samajwadi Party. But, the party has now changed its mind and now thinks it should be passed as soon as possible.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal of the Akali Dal agreed with the concept. The Committee members requested an all-party meeting to settle the matter.
Mamata Banerjee, our leader, has a strong commitment to the Bill. Currently, she is the only female Chief Minister in the nation. According to Mr. Bandhopadhyay, 34% of our MPs in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are female even without the Bill.
In the 17th Lok Sabha, there are just 15% of women MPs, and in the Rajya Sabha, there is only 12.2%. This is less than the 25.5% global average. Only 8% of the total MLAs are women across all States in India.
