Why is the Women’s Reservation Bill in the spotlight again? Why has he been suspended for 27 years? – First position

There is a great buzz in the political corridors. It appears that this extraordinary session of Parliament will indeed be special for two reasons. Firstly, the relocation of MPs from the old Parliament building to the new one – which will take place today (September 19) – and secondly, because it appears that the Center has approved the Bill on Reservation of women at the Union Cabinet meeting held on Monday and is expected to submit it for adoption by Parliament on Wednesday (September 20).

In the Cabinet meeting that took place on Monday and lasted over 90 minutes, speculation was rife that he had approved the Women’s Reservation Bill, which guarantees a 33 per cent quota in the Lok Sabha and in the state assemblies.

News of the Cabinet’s approval of the long-pending bill came after Minister of State Prahlad Singh Patel posted on social media platform deleted the message within an hour.

“Only the Modi government had the moral courage to respond to the demand for women’s reservation, which was proven by the cabinet approval. Congratulations Narendra Modi ji and congratulations to the Modi government,” the minister wrote on X which was later deleted.

While there is no official confirmation of the legislation, we take a closer look at what exactly it is, its history and its goals.

The Women’s Reserves Bill and its History

First introduced in 1996 by the Deve Gowda-led United Front government in the Lok Sabha, the Women’s Reservation Bill seeks to reserve one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women.

According to a report from India todaythe idea for this reservation bill arose from a constitutional amendment adopted in 1993.

Although it was a more restricted level, the constitutional amendment stipulated that a random third of the positions of village council head, or Sarpanch, in the gram panchayat should be reserved for women.

By introducing the Women’s Reservation Bill in the House, the Deve Gowda government aimed to extend this reservation to the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.

It failed to pass the House and was reintroduced in 1998, 1999 and 2008.

It was in 2008 that significant progress was made regarding the bill. The United Progressive Alliance government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, introduced the bill on May 6, 2008 and dramatic scenes followed. There have been paper thefts, paper tearing and much more. The bill was referred to the parliamentary standing committee.

It was finally in 2010 that the bill had a breakthrough. After two days of discussions and debates, on March 9, 2010, the Rajya Sabha passed the bill by a majority of more than two-thirds – the BJP and the Left, which were in opposition, supported it – with 186 votes in favor.

However, the UPA government did not show the political will to pass it in the Lok Sabha and it lapsed in the Upper House.

Hiccups over Women’s Reserves Bill

Although most national political parties – the Congress, the BJP – have supported the legislation over the years, some internal resistance has prevented its passage.

Supporters of the bill say this reservation will ensure that women form a powerful lobby in Parliament to fight on issues that are often ignored.

However, opponents argue that the legislation goes against the ideal of equality enshrined in the Constitution. They argue that women will not compete on merit if there are reservations, which could lower their status in society.

There is also the argument that reservation, in a deeply patriarchal society like India, only translates to rule by men by proxy. According to PRS Legislative Research, reservations would restrict voters’ choices or “reduce the incentive for an MP to work for his or her constituency, as he or she may not be eligible to seek re-election in that constituency” if reserves followed a rotation policy and her seat was to be reserved for women in the next elections.

Some MPs also oppose the women’s reservation bill. They argue that women do not constitute a homogeneous community, like a caste group. Some have even demanded quotas for backward classes and scheduled castes within the overall reservation for women – a key sticking point in the passage of the legislation.

Another challenge in implementing such a bill in the Rajya Sabha is the existing electoral system, which uses the single transferable vote method. This system allocates votes to preferred candidates, making it difficult to reserve seats for specific groups.

Representation of women in India

Even though women have made great strides in different fields, their presence in politics is woefully low. In the current Lok Sabha, 78 women have been elected, representing less than 15 percent of the 543 members. In the Rajya Sabha too, women’s representation is around 14 per cent, according to data shared by the government with Parliament. last December.

Several state assemblies have less than 10 percent female representation, including Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Odisha, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura and Puducherry.

Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi had between 10 and 12 percent women MLAs, according to government data from December 2022. Chattisgarh, West Bengal and Jharkhand topped the rankings with 14.44 percent, 13.7 percent and 12.35 percent women MPs, respectively.

According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, India has a lower percentage of women in the Lower House than its neighbors like Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – a dismal record.

Al Jazeera further reported that India ranked 148th in a list of 193 countries based on the percentage of women elected to their national parliaments, as of June 2021.

With the contribution of agencies