The Women’s Representation Bill for providing 33% reservation to women in the Parliament and State Legislatures has often found its way into the public discourse in the recent past. It has been part of manifestos, and political parties’ promises to introduce it in the Parliament, if voted to power. However, the incumbent government seems to be non-committal on the issue at best. DMK MP Kanimozhi posed a question in the Lok Sabha about the same on Wednesday, July 28, and got a vague response from Union Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju.
Kanimozhi asked an unstarred question as to when the government proposes to bring the Women’s Representation Bill for providing 33% reservation for women in Parliament and state legislatures. Rijiju responded, “Gender justice is an important commitment of the Government. The issue involved needs careful consideration on the basis of the consensus among all political parties before a Bill for amendment in the Constitution is brought before Parliament.”
In fact, this response is the verbatim the same as the government gave two years ago in 2019, when Kanimozhi had asked the question to the then Law Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad. Read Prasad’s response here.
The bill was first introduced in the Parliament in 1996, and then again in 1998, 1999, 2003 and 2008. The latest version of the bill was passed in Rajya Sabha in 2010. However, since the Lok Sabha did not vote on it, the bill lapsed.
The bill proposes to reserve 33% seats in the Parliament and state legislatures for women, of which 1/3rd will be reserved for women from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The reservation will happen on a rotational basis – meaning different constituencies in states or Union Territories will have reservations under this proposed law every general election. The reservations will apply for 15 years after the bill becomes a law.