Women groups seek passage of reservation bill

Women's groups Thursday urged all political parties to come together to pass the Women's Reservation Bill in the current session of parliament.

"Women groups are concerned about the uncertainties that the bill, which has been in the making since 1996, will be pushed back into if not passed in the last session of this parliament itself," '33 Percent Now', a coalition of women's rights groups, said at a press conference here.

"We are not ready to accept another setback on the historic Women's Reservation Bill," they said.

"This government neither has the political will nor the social commitment to pass the bill," Annie D. Raja, general secretary, National Federation of Indian Women, said.

She said if Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was sincere enough, then this was the opportunity to get the bill passed. "It is the government's responsibility to run the parliament".

Activist Ranjana Kumari said if the bill is not passed in the coming two weeks then all the hard work will go waste.

The coalition said that in the next two weeks they will interact with various political leaders, involve youth through online campaigns and have a public meeting at Jantar Mantar Feb 12.