Women’s Reservation Bill Update: Enhanced participation of women in the legislative system of India i.e. Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and State Assemblies will be ensured. For this, the Cabinet has finally approved the Women’s Reservation Bill. Earlier, a cabinet meeting was held in the Annexe Building during the special session of Parliament, in which the bill was approved. Now preparations are being made to present it in the Lok Sabha. The special thing is that after this bill is passed in both the houses of the Parliament, the role of women representatives will be bigger in the parliamentary election system.
The Women’s Reservation Bill is regarding reserving one-third seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. It has been included in its proposal that at least 33% seats in the Assemblies and Lok Sabha will be reserved for women.
Apart from this, there is a provision to ensure at least 33% of the seats reserved for SC/ST and Anglo Indian women. If this bill comes into force after being passed in both the Houses of Parliament, it will ensure greater participation of women in the House.
The bill was first brought by the Vajpayee government
Actually the Women’s Reservation Bill is pending for the last 27 years. First, in 1998, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had pushed this bill in the Lok Sabha, but it could not be passed. The last attempt to materialize this was made in 2010. At that time there was UPA government at the center under the chairmanship of Congress. It was introduced in the Rajya Sabha.
However, some parties had created a huge uproar regarding OBC quota. But with the help of marshals, it was passed in the Upper House by excluding some MPs. It failed in the Lok Sabha because it could not get the necessary support to pass it. Both big parties BJP and Congress have been supporting this bill.
There are less than 15% women in Parliament
If we talk about the present situation, at present the participation of women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies is less than 15%. At present the number of MPs in the Lok Sabha is 543, out of which only 78 women members have been elected. In December last year, a figure was shared by the government, in which it was told that the number of women in Rajya Sabha is also less than 14%.
The situation in the assemblies of these states is the worst
Apart from this, the number of women representatives in the assemblies of Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Odisha, Manipur, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Puducherry and Himachal Pradesh is less than 10%. Is. After the passing of this bill, it will be ensured that their number will be at least one third in the state assemblies and Lok Sabha. This will make it easier to address issues related to women across the country.