Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on the issue of Women’s Reservation Bill.
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on the issue of Women’s Reservation Bill.
Women’s Reservation Bill: The Union Cabinet met on Monday evening after the first meeting of the five-day special session of Parliament. The proposed Women’s Reservation Bill was approved in the cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, there was no official statement on what happened in the cabinet meeting that lasted for more than 90 minutes. At the same time, there is now a race to take credit for the Women’s Reservation Bill.
Sonia Gandhi said – it is ours
After the approval of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the cabinet meeting chaired by PM Modi, there is a race to take credit for it. Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, when asked about the bill, said that it has been given by the Congress party. At the same time, it was said from the Bharatiya Janata Party that if PM Modi is there then everything is possible. The Women’s Reservation Bill has been pending for a long time.
what is women reservation bill
The Women’s Reservation Bill provides for reserving one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures. This bill has been pending for almost 27 years. The bill was first introduced in the Lok Sabha as the 81st Amendment Bill in September 1996 by the United Front government led by then Prime Minister Deve Gowda. The Bill did not succeed in getting the approval of the House and was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee which submitted its report to the Lok Sabha in December 1996. However, the Bill lapsed with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha.
In 1998, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee reintroduced the bill in the 12th Lok Sabha. After the then Law Minister M Thambidurai introduced it, a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP walked into the well of the House, grabbed the bill and tore it into pieces. The bill did not receive full support. Later it got cancelled.
It was re-introduced in 1999, 2002 and 2003. However, Congress, BJP and many parties got its support. However, even this did not manage to touch the majority figure. In 2008, the UPA government led by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh introduced the bill in the Rajya Sabha. It was passed on March 9, 2010 with a vote of 186–1. At the same time, the bill was not placed for consideration in the Lok Sabha. It also lapsed after the demise of the 15th Lok Sabha.
The last development on this issue was in 2010. At this time, the MPs who opposed the bill in the Rajya Sabha were thrown out of the Parliament by the Marshal, but the Women’s Reservation Bill was cancelled. It could not be presented in the Lok Sabha.
