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The Union Cabinet approved the Women’s Reservation Bill late on Monday night, which is aimed at providing 33 percent quota for women in Parliament and state Legislatures. Now with the Union Cabinet approval in hands, the UPA government is set to table the Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, May 06, 2008. The crucial bill for women has its fate depending on RJD Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav, who for more than a decade has opposed the Bill on account of not meeting his demand of including Muslims and the backward castes.
The Women’s 33 percent reservation Bill was originally drafted and introduced by former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda in September 1996 in the Parliament. The left parties have been very critical of Congress led UPA government for not introducing the Women’s Reservation Bill. CPM Politburo member Sitaram Yechury had recently remarked that the UPA government by not introducing the Women’s Reservation Bill is not keeping its promise made in the Common Minimum Programme (CMP).
The Women’s Reservation Bill, after being introduced by the United Front Government, was once again tabled in the Parliament during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government in 1998 and later in 1999. A senior Congress party spokesperson on tabling the Bill in Rajya Sabha today remarked that by ensuring the introduction of the Bill, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi will vindicate her commitment to the welfare of women in the country. Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had however reiterated his party’s opposition to the Bill in its current form after the Union Cabinet meeting.
