WOMEN RESERVATION BILL

On September 19, 2023, the One Hundred Twenty-Eighth Amendment Bill, 2023, was introduced in the Lok Sabha. The proposed legislation seeks to reserve 33 percent of all seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies for women.

The proposed legislation seeks to augment the representation of female Members of Parliament (MPs) to a total of 181, beyond the existing count of 82. Additionally, it intends to elevate the number of female members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) to over 2,000, exceeding the current figure of 740.

Need for the bill

According to UN Women’s Inter-Parliamentary report 2023, India ranks 140 out of 186 countries with 15.1 % Women MP’s in Lok Sabha (82 out of 543 MP’s).

Globally, Rwanda (61%), Cuba (53%), Nicaragua (52%) are the top three countries in women representation. Bangladesh (21%) and Pakistan (20%) as well are ahead of India in case of female representation.

History

·        1996 – The Women reservation bill (WRB) was 1st introduced in 1996, and was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee, however, the Bill lapsed with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha and had to be reintroduced.

·        1998 – The Bill was reintroduced and yet again, it failed to get support and lapsed.

·        1999 – The Bill was reintroduced by the NDA government in the 13th Lok Sabha and was subsequently introduced twice in the year 2003.

·        2004 – The UPA government included it in its Common Minimum Programme and finally tabled it, this time in Rajya Sabha to prevent it from lapsing again, in 2008.

·        Few recommendations made by the 1996 Geeta Mukherjee Committee were included in this version of the Bill.

·        2010 – The Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha and lapsed in the Lok Sabha, since then the demand for reservation for women in legislative bodies is not new.

Reason for failure

·        Quota within quota – The 1996 committee recommended reservation for OBC women within the 1/3rd reservation for women of the Bill, however, this demand has never been incorporated.

·        Lack of political will – Only Odisha’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) have reserved seats for women for election candidatures.

·        Diverts attention – Opponents contend that the bill diverts attention from the larger issues of electoral reform such as criminalisation of politics and inner party democracy.

·        Lapse of Assembly sessions.

Key features of the bill

·        The Bill provided for inserting Article 330A to the constitution, which borrows from the provisions of Article 330, which provides for reservation of seats to SCs/STs in the Lok Sabha.

·        The Bill provided that reserved seats for women may be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in states or Union Territories.

·        In the seats reserved for SCs/STs, the Bill sought to provide one-third of the seats to be reserved for women on rotational basis.

·        The Bill introduces Article 332A, which mandates the reservation of seats for women in every state Legislative Assembly. Additionally, one-third of the seats reserved for SCs and STs must be allocated for women.

·        Article 239AA(2)(b) was amended by the bill accordingly to add that the laws framed by parliament shall apply to the National Capital territory of Delhi.

·        As per Article 334A, the reservation will be effective after the census is conducted. Based on the census, delimitation will be undertaken to reserve seats for women. The reservation will be provided for a period of 15 years.

·        Seats reserved for women will be rotated after each delimitation, as determined by a law made by Parliament.

Challenges

·        Lack of reservation in upper house., i.e., Rajya Sabha and State Legislative Council.

·        Delay in delimitation and conducting census.