What Is The Women’s Reservation Bill, Seeking To Be Reintroduced In Parliament Via A Supreme Court Plea?
Recently, the Supreme Court heard a PIL in which the petitioner put forth the plea for re-introducing the Women’s Reservation Bill, an amendment that was long due for being passed by both the houses of parliament. However, on the plea, the Supreme Court has currently asked for the Centre’s opinion. But it is crucial for us to know what this bill is and how will it add to empowering women in the field of politics. Women’s Reservation Bill is about an amendment in the constitution that will reserve seats for women in Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies.
The Women’s Reservation Bill is also known as The Constitution 108th Amendment Bill, 2008. The main aim of this bill was to provide one-third reservation in the seats of Parliament, particularly the lower house, which is the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies. Women belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes would be eligible for the reservation which will be one-third of the total number of seats.
The Women’s Reservation Bill however dates back to 1993, when it was mentioned that this amendment in the constitution would give one-third of seats randomly to women in various positions of gram panchayat like sarpanch or village council leader. In 2010, the bill was in fact passed by the upper house of the parliament, the Rajya Sabha, however, it got stuck in the Lower House, and eventually lapsed.
Also Read: Nagaland Government To Supreme Court: Ready To Implement 33% Reservation For Women In Civic Bodies
This Women’s Reservation Bill would give the reserved seats in a rotation to the different constituencies in the various states and union territories of the country. The recent plea on it heard by the Supreme Court was advocated by lawyer Prashant Bhushan. The petitioner highlighted the facts about its importance in the current political scenario and the fact that the Rajya Sabha passed it. However, the current government holds a lot of authority in deciding the fate of this bill as they enjoy the majority.
Also Read: Uttarakhand Court Suspends Gov Orders Of 30% Quota For Women With Domicile In State Service Exams, Says Its Contrary To Article 16 (2)
What do you think about this bill?
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