In news– Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha has recently began a day-long hunger strike in New Delhi, demanding passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill (WRB).
Timeline of the Women’s Reservation Bill-
- The WRB was first introduced in 1996 by the HD Deve Gowda government. After the Bill failed to get approval in Lok Sabha, it was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee chaired by Geeta Mukherjee, which presented its report in December 1996.
- However, the Bill lapsed with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha and had to be reintroduced.
- Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s NDA government reintroduced the Bill in the 12th Lok Sabha in 1998. Yet again, it failed to get support and lapsed.
- In 1999, the NDA government reintroduced it in the 13th Lok Sabha. Subsequently, the Bill was introduced twice in Parliament in 2003.
- In 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.
- Five of the seven recommendations made by the 1996 Geeta Mukherjee Committee were included in this version of the Bill. These were-
- Reservation for a period of 15 years.
- Including sub-reservation for Anglo Indians.
- Including reservation in cases where the state has less than three seats in Lok Sabha (or less than three seats for SCs/STs).
- Including reservation for the Delhi assembly.
- changing not less than one-third to as nearly as may be, one-third.
- Notably, two of the excluded recommendations (regarding reservation for OBC women as well as reservation for women in the Rajya Sabha and legislative council) became major sticking points.
- On March 9, 2010, the Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha with 186-1 votes after immense debate, creating history.
- The Bill, then, reached the Lok Sabha where it never saw the light of day. When the House was dissolved in 2014, it lapsed once again.
- It is seen as a logical extension of the 72nd and 73rd constitutional amendments (1992,1993), which reserved one third of all seats and chairperson posts for women in rural and urban local governments.
- However, historically, there has never been political consensus on the issue. The previous two NDA governments have not even introduced the Bill in Parliament.
- The Bill seeks reserve one-third of the total number of seats in state Assemblies and Parliament for women.
Opposition to WRB-
- But there has also been more substantive opposition to the WRB. This has come from parties such as SP, RJD and JD(U).
- A crucial sticking point for them has been the issue of providing quotas to OBC women within the ambit of the Bill.
- While the 1996 committee recommendations included instituting reservation for OBC women within the one-third reservation for women that the Bill proposed, this demand has never been incorporated.
- This has led to opponents saying that the WRB will not benefit their women.
Women in Parliament: India and the rest of the world-
- Currently, just 14 per cent of Lok Sabha MPs are women (78 in total). Women make roughly 11 per cent of the Rajya Sabha.
- While the number has increased significantly since the first Lok Sabha, where women made about 5 per cent of the total MPs, it is still far lower than many countries.
- According to data from PRS, Rwanda (61 per cent), South Africa (43 per cent) and even Bangladesh (21 per cent), are ahead of India in this matter.
- According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s latest report, India ranks 144 out of 193 countries in the representation of women in Parliament.
- As a study by the American Economic Association showed, countries with higher share of women in national parliament are more likely to pass and implement gender sensitive laws.
- A 2010 study by the Harvard Kennedy School showed that female representation in village councils increased female participation and responsiveness to concerns such as drinking water, infrastructure, sanitation and roads.
- Moreover, political participation itself is a human right – regardless of the instrumental value of women’s representation in legislatures.
