The government on September 19 introduced a constitutional amendment bill to reserve one-third of seats in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for women, reviving a bill pending for 27 years for want of consensus among parties. The bill be named Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam. Making it the first bill to be introduced in the new Parliament building, the government said it will enable greater participation of women in policy-making at the state and national levels and help achieve the goal of making India a developed country by 2047.The reservation will come into effect after a delimitation exercise is undertaken and will continue for 15 years. Seats reserved for women will be rotated after each delimitation exercise, according to the bill.
The government said women participate substantively in panchayats and at municipal bodies, but their representation in state assemblies, Parliament is still limited. Women bring different perspectives and enrich quality of legislative debates and decision-making, it added.There have been several efforts to introduce women's reservation bill in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies since 1996. The last such attempt was made in 2010, when the Rajya Sabha had passed a Bill for women's reservation, but the same could not be passed in the Lok Sabha.Data shows that women MPs account for nearly 15 per cent of Lok Sabha strength while their representation is below 10 per cent in many state assemblies.
Here are the key provisions of the Women's Reservation Bill:
The bill seeks to reserve 33% seats for women in Lok Sabha, state legislative assemblies and the Delhi assembly.
The quota won't apply to Rajya Sabha or state Legislative Councils.
From the said quota, one-third shall be reserved for women from the the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Reservation of seats shall come into effect after delimitation is undertaken after the relevant figures for the first census have been published.
Rotation of the seats reserved for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies shall take place after each subsequent exercise of delimitation.
No two women MPs will be allowed to contest one seat.
The bill excludes reservations for women from the OBC category.
The government said the bill is aimed at enabling greater participation of women in policy-making at state and national levels.