The Union Cabinet, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has reportedly given the green light to the long-awaited women's reservation bill. This significant development comes after nearly 27 years of deliberation and aims to allocate one-third of all seats for women in both the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.
Although the government has yet to officially confirm the news or provide details about the proposed legislation, it's essential to understand the structure of the bill as it stood when last introduced in Parliament back in 2008.
The Constitution (One Hundred and Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2008, sought to set aside one-third of all seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies for women. These reserved seats for women parliamentarians might be rotated among different constituencies within a state or Union territory. According to the bill, this system of reserving seats for women would be in effect for 15 years before ceasing to exist.
Furthermore, the bill outlined that one-third of the total seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes would also be allocated to women from these groups in both the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
The journey of this bill has been marked by numerous attempts and setbacks. It was first introduced in Lok Sabha as the 81st Amendment Bill in September 1996 during the tenure of then-Prime Minister Deve Gowda's United Front government. Regrettably, it failed to secure the approval of the House and was subsequently referred to a joint parliamentary committee. Although this committee submitted its report to the Lok Sabha in December 1996, the bill lapsed following the dissolution of the Lok Sabha.
In 1998, during the leadership of then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, the bill was reintroduced in the 12th Lok Sabha. However, an incident occurred when an RJD MP disrupted the proceedings by grabbing and tearing the bill apart. Despite subsequent reintroductions in 1999, 2002, and 2003, the bill struggled to garner majority support.
In 2008, under the leadership of then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, the bill was tabled in the Rajya Sabha. Remarkably, it was passed with 186-1 votes on March 9, 2010. Nevertheless, the bill never progressed to consideration in the Lok Sabha and lapsed due to the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha.
At the time, vocal opposition to the bill came from parties such as the RJD, the Janata Dal (United), and the Samajwadi Party (SP), who demanded a 33 per cent reservation for backward groups within the overall 33 per cent quota for women.
The recent development occurred on the first day of Parliament's special session when Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a cabinet meeting where the bill was reportedly cleared, according to sources.
Various political parties, including the Congress, Bharat Rashtra Samithi, and Biju Janata Dal, have advocated for the bill's approval. However, for the bill to move forward, the government will need two-thirds support in each House of Parliament.
Supporters argue that the bill is necessary to improve the status of women in Indian society through affirmative action. Currently, women constitute just 14.94 per cent of Lok Sabha seats and even less, around 14.05 per cent, in the Rajya Sabha. Female representation drops even further, often falling to single-digit percentages, in state assemblies.
Another compelling argument is that women's participation in decision-making processes is crucial to address issues like high rates of crimes against women, low female workforce participation, inadequate nutrition levels, and gender-skewed sex ratios.
Opponents of the bill contend that women are not a homogeneous community like a caste group and that reserving seats for them might violate the Constitution's guarantee of equality. They argue that such a reservation system could discourage women from competing on merit.
Additionally, some argue that it may not be feasible to reserve seats in the Rajya Sabha due to the existing system of elections in the upper house, which employs a single transferable vote method that doesn't accommodate the principle of reserving seats for specific groups, even for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
