RAJYA SABHA PASSES WOMEN'S RESERVATION BILL

RAJYA SABHA PASSES
WOMEN'S RESERVATION BILL
The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, 9th march, 2010 took “ a historic step by voting (191 for and 1 against) to amend the constitution, providing one third reservation of seats in parliament and state Assemblies for women.
The House recorded its vote at 7.25 pm, with almost the entire House supporting the Bill.
The Bill has to be passed by Lok Sabha and ratified by 50 percent of the state before it comes in to effect. While the passage of the Bill was smooth the process itself started on a stormy note. Marshals ringed the chair and the official table target of attacks by dissenting members- four from Samajwadi party (SP) and one each of the Janata Dal( United) Rashtrya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Lok Jana shakti party(LJP) who were physically evicted. Earlier the House voted to suspend them for the remaining session for their behavior on Monday 8th march.
The Bahujan Samaj Party walked out before voting, disagreeing with current Bill, While SP and RJD members went out after discussions demanding revocation of their party colleagues suspension.
The opposition criticised the floor management in the last two days that led to frequent disruptions. Dr Manmohan Singh, intervened twice. He recalling the contribution made by the Late CPI leader, Geeta Mukherjee, who headed the parliamentary committee that studied the first version of the Bill in 1996, he described the current development as” momentous in the long journey in the empowerment of women that would allow the country realize the full potential and social and economic development” He said” It is a historic step, a giant step.
Initiating the debate, leader of the opposition Mr Arun Jaitly said one third reservation was the best option and it was proven in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Rwanda where the percentage of women representation was greater compared to advanced countries, which either had a list system or fixed quotas for parties to allocate seats. Jayanti Natarajan, who heads the parliamentary committee that scrutinized the Bill, said no other party had either the courage or political will to push this legislation which was a step forward to the move by Rajive Gandhi, who reserved one third seats in panchyats and local bodies for women.
Brinda Karat (CPI-M) said experience of panchayats and local bodies showed that women had worked for the uplift of the village and community. The tendency of proxy politics was a reflection of the male- domination in society.
March 9, 2010 will remain a historic day for our Parliamentary democracy. The Rajya Sabha has convincingly voted for the women's Reservation Bill providing 33 percent reservation to women in parliament and the state legislation Assemblies. Equal credit goes to the BJP and the Left Parties. With out their support and co operation, the congress could not have passed the Bill. All women who deserved to get elected have been well accepted and promoted to top posts as well. The need of the hour is social, educational and economic empowerment of women. All leaders talk about the need to empower women.
Unprecedented scenes are quite common in Indian parliament. What a razzle- dazzle, political parties always say that they respect women and encourage them. But on Monday they were even attacking the Rajya Sabha chairman. Thus Indian democracy lost a wonderful opportunity to pass the historic women's Bill. It was tragic that on the centenary of international Women's Day our MP's failed to recognize the event. The international community celebrated the occasion by choosing Kathrine Bigelow as the best director of her movie “ The Hurt Locker” She is the first women to have won the Golden Knight in the History of Oscar awards. At least, the Oscar award selection committee brought credit to women on the international women's Day.
The Prime minister maintained that the' near unanimity' between the government and the opposition reached on the Bill was a living proof that heart of the Indian democracy was sound and in right place. The Prime minister also thanked leaders of the opposition parties for their support.
Sonia Gandhi asked Lalu Prasad' Whether his wife Rabri Devi, who was the chief minister of Bihar and his seven daughter would support him on this issue?' should I ring up Rabri Devi to know her view on the Bill . Him. To this Lalu just laughed in replay.Sonia Gandhi asked.
Sonia again asked Mulayam singh yadav and Lalu Prasad” The opposition bench particularly the BJP for their support and co-operation. If they co-operate, why can't you? Sonia said that he government had never thought of backing out from its move.
Credit for this Bill must be given primarily to congress president Sonia Gandhi, whose unequivocal advocacy of bill helped quell the misgiving with in a section of its male leadership, as well as Prime minister Manmohan singh. But the applause must also go to the Bharatiya Janta party and the left, which put the politics of oppositionism aside to help the government pass the 108th constitutional amendment in the upper house on Tuesday 9th march 2010.
Prof. John Kurakar