Explore Business Standard
Women Reservation Bill
Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Monday asserted the real issue with the government's move to bring bills in a special sitting of Parliament this week is delimitation, not women's reservation, and claimed that the reported delimitation proposal is "extremely dangerous" as well as an "assault on the Constitution itself". Gandhi stressed that any delimitation involving an increase in the strength of the Lok Sabha must be politically, and not just arithmetically, equitable. In an article published in The Hindu, she also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's real intention now is to further "delay and derail" the caste census. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making appeals to opposition parties to support bills that the government wants to bulldoze through Parliament in a special session when the election campaign in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal will be at its peak, she said. "There can be only one reason for the extraordinary hurry, which is to derive ...
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the time has come for the implementation of the Women's Reservation Act in its true spirit and the 2029 Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections are conducted with the quota for women in place. In a letter to the flood leaders of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, ahead of the three-day special sittings of Parliament, Modi also asked all members to come together in one voice to pass the amendments to the women's reservation law, officially known as Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam. "After extensive deliberations, we have reached the conclusion that the time has now come to implement the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in its true spirit across the country. "It is imperative that the 2029 Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections are conducted with women's reservation in place," the Prime Minister said in his letter dated April 11. The Budget Session of Parliament has been extended, and a special three-day sitting of the House has been convened on Apri
Ahead of the special three-day Parliament session when the women's reservation law is expected to be amended, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Saturday said the proposed amendments should not be a political tool that undermines federalism and vitiates the vitality of Parliament. In a post on X, he alleged that the government is convening a "special session" to derive political mileage ahead of state polls with an eye on delimitation before the 2029 general elections. He also asserted that Congress is committed to a one-third reservation for women, but the same should be inclusive and fair. Sharing his pictures at the Congress Working Committee (CWC), which met on Friday to take a stand on the proposed amendments to the women's reservation law (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam), he said, "While the Congress has always championed the 33% quota, and the first to introduce a Bill and pass it in the Rajya Sabha in 2013, the current government's approach raises serious alarms." The meeting
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has strongly criticised the Centre over the women's reservation and accused it of trying to use it as a "weapon" to tackle the opposition before taking up the delimitation exercise based on population. "The Union government is not concerned about implementing reservations for women. If their concerns were genuine, they could have done it right away. Rather than doing that, the BJP-led Centre is thinking of using it as a weapon to tackle opposition and take up the delimitation exercise based on population," he told PTI in an interview. "Hence, the women's reservation must be implemented immediately without showing delimitation as a reason," the DMK president added. Expressing apprehensions on the proposed delimitation exercise, the CM said it was the DMK that raised the first voice asserting the rights of the state after realising that Tamil Nadu would be affected by the proposed exercise. He also attacked his rival and AIADMK chief Edappadi K ...
The Congress on Friday alleged that the Modi government's "U-turn" on the implementation of the women's reservation law is aimed at covering up his "monumental failures" in governance and "severe setbacks" to foreign policy. The opposition party claimed that the PM owes an "apology" to the women of India as he did not accept the Congress' demand of implementing the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, from the 2024 polls itself. "Actually he owes an apology to the women of India. When the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 was passed by Parliament in 2023 unanimously, the Indian National Congress had demanded its implementation from 2024 itself," Ramesh said on X. But this was not acceptable to the PM who made the reservation dependent on the delimitation and census exercises that he had failed to conduct and then dithered on for many years, the Congress leader said. Ramesh claimed that 30 months later, facing defeat in the assembly elections, in spite of the Election Commission ..
The Union Cabinet is learnt to have cleared on Wednesday the draft bill for amendments to the Women's Reservation Act that will ensure an increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 with 273 reserved for women, and its implementation in the 2029 general elections. Sources privy to the development said that a meeting of the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the draft bill for the amendments to the law, Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, more commonly known as the Women's Reservation Act. The government has extended the budget session of Parliament and a special three-day sitting will be held from April 16 to 18, where the amendment bill is expected to be passed. The provision to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies was brought by amending the Constitution in 2023, but it would have come into effect after the completion of the delimitation exercise on the basis of the 2027 Census. Therefore, it was expected to come int
A nine-judge Supreme Court bench on Tuesday commenced hearing on petitions related to discrimination against women at religious places, including Sabarimala temple of Keralam, and on the ambit and scope of religious freedom practised by multiple faiths. The Constitution bench comprises Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices B V Nagarathna, M M Sundresh, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Aravind Kumar, Augustine George Masih, Prasanna B Varale, R Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi. Ahead of the hearing, the Centre filed written submissions and requested the top court to uphold restriction on the entry of women of menstruating age into Sabarimala temple. The Union of India said the issue falls squarely within the domain of religious faith and denominational autonomy, and lies beyond the scope of judicial review. In September 2018, a five-judge Constitution bench, by a 4:1 majority verdict, had lifted the ban that prevented women between the age of 10 and 50 from entering the Ayyappa shrine at Sabarima
Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress on Wednesday said the "U-turn Ustad" now wants to implement the women's reservation law without completing the delimitation and census operations. It said the prime minister has let it be known that a "special two-day session" will be convened in the next fortnight to pass the amendments necessary to implement the law. The opposition party alleged that this was a "weapon of mass diversion" to change the narrative from "foreign policy failures and setbacks and from the LPG and energy crisis facing the country". Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, said the Modi government is also planning to increase the size of the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabhas by 50 per cent, which also needs careful deliberation. In September 2023, the new Parliament House was inaugurated with the passage of the women's reservation bill -- or Nari Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 -- that amended the Constitution to provide for
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has told Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju that an all-party meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, should be convened at the earliest to discuss the "modalities and roadmap for the implementation" of the Women's Reservation Act. Responding to a letter by Rijiju to him, Kharge noted that the Act, 'Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam', was passed unanimously by Parliament in September 2023. "Thirty months later, the government is, in your own words, 'seeking an opportunity to interact with me and the senior members of my party to deliberate upon the modalities and roadmap for the implementation of this landmark constitutional amendment'," the Congress president said in his letter to Rijiju on Monday night. "You spoke with me on this matter a few days back. I have already conveyed to you, as has Jairam Ramesh, chief whip of the Congress Parliamentary Party in the Rajya Sabha, that the INC's view is that the government should convene
Supreme Court judge Justice BV Nagarathna on Saturday hailed the reservation for women in gram panchayats and asserted that at least 30 per cent of law officers representing the Union and state governments must be women. Justice Nagarathna called for the elevation of competent women advocates as high court judges in order to have greater diversity on the bench. If male advocates under 45 years can be appointed to HCs, then why not competent women counterparts, the apex court judge questioned while addressing a seminar on 'Breaking Glass Ceiling: Women Who Made It' organized here by Mumbai University. "To successfully break the glass ceiling, we must not let girls and women of tomorrow be conditioned to the anachronistic lens of gender-roles and virtues. There is no virtue for success that is exclusive to men and lacks in women," she said while pointing out that younger women lack role models and mentors to inspire, encourage and help them to navigate through and succeed in the legal
The BJP is likely to have a higher representation of women in its organisational structures, compared to its outgoing committees at various levels from booth upwards, as it prepares for the implementation of the law reserving one-third seats Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women. Sources said in a state like Madhya Pradesh, the BJP may have at least seven to eight women districts presidents in its 62 organisational districts against the none in the outgoing set-up. Similarly, in Bihar, the BJP recently named two women district presidents amid its ongoing nationwide organisational election exercise. Party sources said their national leadership is of the view that it is necessary to groom a crop of women leaders bottom-up so that able candidates are in place when the law reserving one-third of Lok Sabha and assembly seats come into force. "In the absence of genuine women alternatives, dominant male leaders will prop up women linked to their families to fill the quota. The message
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to examine pleas challenging the delimitation clause in the 2023 Nari Shakti Vandan Act which reserves one-third seats for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies. A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and P B Varale was not inclined to entertain the petitions filed by one Jaya Thakur and the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) under Article 32 of the Constitution. The bench pointed out Jaya Thakur's petition challenged the bill, which had become the Act, whereas the NFIW challenged the delimitation clause of the law. While Thakur's plea was dismissed as infructuous, the court was not inclined to examine NFIW's plea under Article 32 saying it could move the high court or any other appropriate forum. The NFIW challenged the constitutional validity of Article 334A (1) or Clause 5 of the 2023 Act where it rendered delimitation of constituencies a prerequisite to the implementation of the Act. On November 3, 2023, the top court while hearing ...
The Rajasthan Cabinet on Wednesday approved 33 per cent reservation to women in the police force and five per cent additional allowance to pensioners. The meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, also approved a proposal to allot land for a 3,150 MW solar power project. Deputy Chief Minister Dr Prem Chand Bairwa said an amendment to the Rajasthan Police Subordinate Services Rules, 1989, was approved in the cabinet meeting, paving the way for the one-third quota for women in police. A notification will be issued soon by the Personnel department in this regard, he added. Dr Bairwa said the cabinet has also taken measures in connection with beneficiaries of pensions for retiring state government employees. If there is no other eligible member, then the names of specially-abled (vishesh yogya) children, dependent parents, and specially-abled siblings can now be permanently added to the Pension Payment Order, he said. For this, approval has been given to amend Rules 67 and
When the historic "Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam" was passed in Parliament last year, jubilant women politicians, cutting across parties, broke into celebration distributing sweets and exuding confidence that it would enable them to get a fairer deal in the upcoming elections. Celebrations over the passage of the landmark Bill were no less in Kerala, where over 1.40 crore voters are women and 50 per cent seats are reserved for them in local bodies. Although the Women's Reservation Bill would be implemented only after 2029 Lok Sabha polls, female politicians widely expected that they would get a remarkable representation in the candidates' list of the general elections. On the contrary, they continued to get a raw deal in the southern state from the parties that had waxed eloquent about the passage of the historic Bill. While the major fronts, the CPI(M)-led LDF and Congress-led UDF, have given three and one seat respectively to women, the BJP-led NDA has set aside five seats for the
The Congress will reserve 50 per cent of government jobs for women if it is voted to power, former party chief Rahul Gandhi said on Friday, asserting that powerful women will change the destiny of India. Gandhi asked why even today only one in three women is employed and why is there only one woman in 10 government jobs. "Isn't the population of women in India 50%? Is the presence of women in higher secondary and higher education not 50%? If so, then why is their share in the system so less?" the former Congress chief said. "Congress wants - 'Aadhi Abaadi Poora Haq', we understand that women's potential will be fully utilized only when women have equal contribution in the government running the country," he said in a post in Hindi on X. Therefore, the Congress has decided that half the recruitment in all new government jobs should be reserved for women, he said. "We are also in favour of immediate implementation of women's reservation in Parliament and in assemblies," Gandhi ...