Women Reservation Bill: A distant reality

Vikash Ranjan

New Delhi

Thu, 19 Jun 2008: 

The one issue -Women Reservation Bill- which has brought many political parties on the same platform is gradually approaching towards gaining shape with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), an ally of ruling UPA government vehemently supported the bill to be passed in the coming Monsoon session of the Parliament.

The head of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice, E M Sudarsana Natchappan was flooded with the suggestion form the ardent supporters of the pro-bill lobby comprising the three women members of the committee Brinda Karat (CPM), Najma Heptulla (BJP) and Prabha Thakur (Congress) that the bill must be made to pass in the coming session without any further delay leaving the provision for the quota issue within the quota for the SCs/STs, OBCs to be taken later.

All the constituents of the Left parties-CPI, CPM, Forward Block and Revolutionary Socialist Party also told the Committee that the women reservation bill seeking 33 percent quota for women should be passed in the present form sans any dilution. AIADMK and DMK have already in favour of the present form of the bill. They urged the Committee to come up with a report based on broad consensus.

Left delegation supporting reservation for women sans a sub-quota in the State Assemblies and the Lok Sabha was of the view that women means women from all society which means from all sections-OBCs and minorities. Reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes are mandatory under the Constitution. This applies to seats reserved for women as well. A CPI memorandum said that we should not try to divide women on the basis of caste. “when we talk about women, should mean only women representating all sections of society.”

The Committee is now scheduled to meet in Chennai for two days from June 23 to get views of the PMK and other parties on the issue. Later for two days from June 27 the Committee will hold meeting in the western region to enable political parties to give their views on the issue.

Samajwadi Party, against the reservation in the current form favouring quota for SCs/STs and OBCs, will give his party's views on July 8.

But the road to reservation for women seems to be far distant until and unless the main contender of the present form of quota, the Rashtrya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav give his nod to the bill, which seems to be, if not impossible, the utmost difficult. Even he has rejected the government's formula of reducing quota from 33 percent to 20-25 percent, but without any sub-quota for the OBCs.

RJD with 23 Parliamentarians is the strong ally of the Congress-led UPA government and the government would not like to go ahead without taking consent of the RJD.

RJD's refusal to the new proposal as well as the current form of quota sans sub-quota has brought the bill into trouble, which has been in limbo for over a decade. Samajwadi Party, PMK, and JD (U) are the other parties besides RJD which has been opposing the current form of 33 percent reservation for women without bringing sub-quota for women belonging to SC/STs, OBCs and minorities under its gamut.