India Eventually Reserves Third Of MP Seat For Women

The Indian parliament has passed a bill that guarantees a third of seats for women in the lower house of parliament and state assemblies.

But the country is a long way away from seeing more women elected to its legislatures soon since it will be implemented only after India completes the next census and an exercise to redraw the boundaries of constituencies – the complicated processes are expected to take several years.

On Wednesday, the Lok Sabha, or the lower house of parliament, approved the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (which loosely translates from Hindi to Saluting Women Power Act) almost unanimously – with 454 of the 456 MPs present voting in favour.

On Thursday, the upper house, or the Rajya Sabha, debated the bill and passed it unanimously.

It now requires the president’s signature, but analysts say that is a mere formality and the bill is “tantalisingly close” to becoming law.
The passage of the bill, which has been in the works for over a quarter of a century now, has been described as “historic” by the government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said it will “boost women empowerment and enable greater participation of women in our political process”.

But opposition politicians have accused the government of “betraying the hopes of millions of Indian women and girls” by keeping the timeline “vague”.

Demanding its immediate implementation, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi asked: “How many years will they have to wait – two, four, eight?”

The bill reserves one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha, state assemblies and also in the capital, Delhi, which is a federally-administered territory but has an elected assembly.

The law will also apply to the seats that are already reserved for some of India’s most disadvantaged communities known as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. In the 545-member Lok Sabha, 131 seats are reserved for these two groups and add up to thousands in state assemblies.

BBC