Women's Reservation Bill, 2010

The Women's Reservation Bill or The Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, 9th March, 2010, is a bill passed in the Parliament of India which says to amend the Constitution of India to reserve 1/3 of all seats in the lower house of Parliament of India, the Lok Sabha, and in all state legislative assemblies for women.[1] The seats were proposed to be reserved in rotation and would have been determined by draw of lots in such a way that a seat would be reserved only once in three consecutive general elections.[2]

Women's Reservation Bill, 2010
Parliament of India
Enacted byParliament of India
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The Rajya Sabha passed the bill on 9 March 2010.[3] The Lok Sabha did not vote on the bill.[4][5] The bill lapsed after having pending status in Lok Sabha and the Lok Sabha; it expired twice, in 2014 and 2019.[6][7]

An equivalent bill was passed by Lok Sabha on 20 September 2023 with 454 votes in favour and two against.[8] It was then passed by the Rajya Sabha unanimously. As of 21 September 2023 the bill was pending presidential assent.[9] President Droupadi Murmu signed the bill on 28 September 2023, and the gazette notification was also published the same day, which made it clear that the reservation will come into force soon after the first delimitation (frozen untill 2026).

Standing Committee recommendation

Originally, the Bill proposed reserving women in all legislative bodies,[10] but the Standing Committee suggested restricting the reservation in the 'House of People' Lok Sabha in the Centre and Assembly in States and Union Territories with the legislature. This recommendation was accepted by the Government and incorporated into the Bill.

History of Women's reservation bills

In 1987, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s government constituted a 14-member committee led by Union Minister Margaret Alva to give recommendations for improving the status of women.[11][12] Rajiv Gandhi introduced the Constitution Amendment Bill to provide one-third reservation for women in rural and urban local bodies. The Bill was passed in Lok Sabha but failed to get passed in Rajya Sabha in September 1989. In 1992, Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao's government passed the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts which mandated 33.3 percent reservation for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions.[13] The women's reservation bill was first introduced by HD Deve Gowda-led government, as Constitution (81st Amendment) Bill, 1996 in the 11th Lok Sabha on 12 September 1996. It was then referred to the Joint Committee of the two Houses of parliament, but the bill lapsed with the dissolution of the 11th Lok Sabha.[14] The joint parliamentary committee report examining the women’s reservation Bill in 1996 recommended that reservation be provided for women of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) once the Constitution was amended to allow for reservation for OBCs.[15]

In 1993, a constitutional amendment was passed in India that called for a random one third of village council leader, or sarpanch, positions in gram panchayat, to be reserved for women.[16]

A long-term plan was made to extend this reservation to the federal parliament and to state legislative assemblies.[17][18][19]

On 19 September 2023, the Narendra Modi government introduced a form of the bill as the 128th Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2023,[20] during Parliament Special Session in Lok Sabha in new parliament building.[21][22] The bill was passed by Lok Sabha on 20 September 2023 with 454 votes in favour and two against.[8] As of 20 September 2023, the bill was expected to be voted on by Rajya Sabha;[23][24] the result was unanimous approval.

See also
Law in India
Women in India

References
  1. "Women's Reservation Bill, version 2010: Two proposed constitutional amendments mirrored SC-ST quota in Parliament, Assemblies". 19 September 2023.
  2. "Women's reservation Bill – imperfect but important". 21 September 2023.
  3. "Rajya Sabha passes Women's Reservation Bill". The Times of India. 9 March 2010. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011.
  4. "Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar calls for women's empowerment". The Times of India. 9 March 2013. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
  5. "Uproar in India Over Female Lawmaker Quota". The New York Times. 9 March 2010.
  6. "Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam: Key points of women's reservation bill". The Times of India. 19 September 2023.
  7. "What's the women's reservation bill, its history, and who brought it first". 19 September 2023.
  8. "India's lower house votes to reserve a third of seats for women". Al Jazeera English. 20 September 2023. Wikidata Q122735230. Archived from the original on 20 September 2023.
  9. "Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam | Women's Reservation Bill Passed in Rajya Sabha | PM Modi | News18".
  10. "Union Cabinet reportedly greenlights Women's Reservation Bill; official confirmation awaited". 18 September 2023.
  11. "A Political Timeline Of The Women's Reservation Bill From Rajiv Gandhi To Narendra Modi".
  12. "What's the women's reservation bill, its history, and who brought it first". 19 September 2023.
  13. "Tracing the political history of the Women's Reservation Bill". 19 September 2023.
  14. "History Of Women's Reservation Bill May Put INDIA Bloc Unity To Test".
  15. "Should there be sub-quota for OBC women? Debate rages". The Times of India. 20 September 2023.
  16. Chattopadhyay, Raghabendra, and Esther Duflo (2004). "Women as Policy Makers: Evidence from a Randomized Policy Experiment in India". Econometrica. The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab. 72 (5): 1409–43. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0262.2004.00539.x. hdl:1721.1/39126. Retrieved 14 December 2018.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. Women are seeking 33% reservation in jobs, promotions
  18. Women's Bill: What's the fuss about? Rediff 24 August 2005.
  19. The reservations business, Indian Express, 11 August 1998.
  20. "Calling himself 'chosen one', PM Modi brings in women's Bill, with SC/ST quota". 19 September 2023.
  21. "Govt brings in women's reservation Bill: One-third of seats to be reserved, also in SC/ST quota". 19 September 2023.
  22. "Mallikarjun Kharge vs Nirmala Sitharaman in Rajya Sabha over women's reservation bill remarks". 19 September 2023.
  23. "PM Modi urges Rajya Sabha MPs to unanimously approve women's reservation bill". The Hindu. 19 September 2023.
  24. "Rajya Sabha proceedings adjourned for day; House to meet on September 20".
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