Centre mulls 50% quota for women in urban local bodies

Prepares list of bills for Budget session

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is considering a constitutional amendment to have 50 per cent reservation for women in urban local bodies.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday also asked various departments to be ready with Bills they propose to introduce during the Budget session of Parliament, including those to replace some of the key ordinances brought by the government after the winter session.

Naidu, who also holds the urban development portfolio, called for a gender perspective while giving shape to urban policies. “Our government is keen to enhance representation of women in urban local bodies by reserving 50 per cent of the seats for women through an amendment to the Constitution. We have already held one round of consultations with states. We would like to take this to its logical conclusion,” he said.

The government is keen to promote “engendered cities” with the objective of welfare of women through their participation, Naidu said, while inaugurating a two-day International Conference on Gender and Urban Poverty. Currently, urban local bodies and Panchayati Raj institutions have a third of all seats reserved for women, according to the 74th and 73rd amendments of the Constitution.

Naidu said six Bills to replace ordinances are ready and the aim of the government is to push their passage in the first half of the session, which runs till March 20. These six Bills are on land acquisition, e-rickshaws, FDI in the insurance sector, mines and minerals, coal and citizenship Act. While the ordinances on land acquisition and e-rickshaws are fresh ones, Bills on the remaining four ordinances are pending in Parliament. “Ministries wanting to bring Bills in Parliament have also been asked to give notices at the earliest,” he said.

Around 20 Bills, including those meant for replacement of ordinances, are ready for introduction, consideration and passage in one of the two Houses. These include the Prevention of Corruption Act (Amendment) Bill and the Lok Pal and Lok Ayukta Act (Amendment) Bill; the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2014; Warehousing Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2015; Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2014; Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2015 (regarding seats of the Andhra Pradesh legislative council); the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2015.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Law Minister DV Sadananda Gowda and HRD Minister Smriti Irani were some of the ministers who attended the meeting.