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The long wait for introducing the 33 percent reservation bill for women in the Parliament and State Legislature was finally over as the Congress led UPA government introduced the bill in Rajya Sabha today. The Left congratulated the UPA government for introducing the bill and added that the Standing Committee should clear it within a definite time frame and send it back to the Parliament.
The Women’s reservation bill was introduced by H.D. Deve Gowda led United Front Government in 1996 and has been tabled twice in the Parliament since then, once in 1998 and later in 1999. It was due to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav that the introduction and passing of the bill is being delayed. The RJD Minster has been opposing the bill as he feels that backward castes and Muslims should also have quotas in the women’s reservation bill. The Rajya Sabha can keep the bill alive and continue debating over it, despite the bill not being passed in the current Lok Sabha.
