Women's Reservation Bill

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Women's Reservation Bill or the The Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, is a pending bill
in India which proposes to amend the Constitution of India to reserve 33 per cent of all seats in the
Lower house of Parliament of India, the Lok Sabha, and in all state legislative assemblies for
women. The seats to be reserved in rotation will be determined by draw of lots in such a way that a
seat shall be reserved only once in three consecutive general elections.
The Upper House Rajya Sabha passed the bill on 9 Mar 2010.
[1]
As of February 2014, the Lower
House Lok Sabha has not yet voted on the bill.
[2]
If the Lok Sabha were to approve the bill, it would
then have to be passed by half of India's state legislatures and signed by the President.
[3]

Women's reservations[edit]
In 1993, a constitutional amendment was passed in India that called for a random one third of village
council leader, or pradhan, positions in gram panchayat to be reserved for women.
[4]
The village
council is responsible for the provision of village infrastructure such as public buildings, water, and
roads and for identifying government program beneficiaries. Although all decisions in the village
council are made by majority, the pradhan is the only full-time member and exercises significant
control over the final council decisions.
[5]
Recent research on the quota system has revealed that it
has changed perceptions of womens abilities, improved womens electoral chances, and raised
aspirations and educational attainment for adolescent girls.
[6]

There is a long-term plan to extend this reservation to parliament and legislative assemblies.
[7][8][9]
In
addition, women in India get reservation or preferential treatments in education and jobs. Its
opposers consider this preferential treatment of women in India as discrimination against them in
admissions to schools, colleges, and universities. For instance, several law schools in India have a
30% reservation for females.
[10]
A segment of feminists in India are strongly in favor of providing
preferential precedence to women in order to create a level playing field for all of its citizens.
Since,
there will be more women participation in politics and society.
Reservation for women is expected to increase opportunity for women.
Women will avail 33% reservation thus after this bill is passed political, social and economical
condition of women is expected to improve drastically as a result.

How did the Women's Reservation Bill originate?

The proposed legislation to reserve 33.3 percent seats in Parliament and state legislatures for women
was drafted first by the H D Deve Gowda-led United Front government. The Bill was introduced in the Lok
Sabha on September 12, 1996. Though it has been introduced in Parliament several times since then, the
Bill could not be passed because of lack of political consensus.
What does the Bill provide?

Reservation for women at each level of legislative decision-making, starting with the Lok Sabha, down to
state and local legislatures.

If the Bill is passed, one-third of the total available seats would be reserved for women in national, state,
or local governments.

In continuation of the existing provisions already mandating reservations for scheduled caste and
scheduled tribes, one-third of such SC and ST candidates must be women.
What is the argument in favour of the Bill?

Its proponents say it would lead to gender equality in Parliament, resulting in the empowerment of women
as a whole. Historically, the Bill's supporters say, women are deprived in India. Increased political
participation of women will help them fight the abuse, discrimination, and inequality they suffer from.
Does reservation for women exist in panchayat elections?

Yes, 33.3 per cent seats in panchayat elections have been reserved for women already. The experience
of women's reservation at the panchayat level has been very encouraging. A million women are being
elected to the panchayats in the country every five years. This is the largest mobilisation of women in
public life in the world.

Then why is there opposition to the Bill?

Various political parties have staunchly opposed it because they fear many of their male leaders would
not get a chance to fight elections if 33.3 percent seats are reserved for women. The Bill has also been
opposed by politicians from the socially and economically backward classes. They argue that reservation
would only help women of the elitist groups to gain seats, therefore causing further discrimination and
under-representation to the poor and backward classes.
What is the status of the Bill now?

The Bill had been referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice, and Personnel,
which gave its report in December 2009.
It recommended passage of the Bill in its present form and suggested that the issue should not be left to
the discretion of political parties.
The central government cleared the Bill on February 25, 2010. For such a bill to pass, the Constitution
has laid out an elaborate procedure. So, even if the Rajya Sabha passes the bill its real impact will be felt
only when it passes through the Lok Sabha.
On March 8, it's difficult to say how the government will manage order in the Upper House so that
members favouring the bill can vote without disruption or chaos created by opposing members.
Political pundits, sociologists, political scientists, feminists and historians and almost everybody has said
that if the bill becomes an act then it will be the biggest socio-political news since independence.


Dollar increase against rupees
Over the last few months Indias growth has slowed down. One of the clearest
indicators of this is the falling value of the Indian rupee. With the financial crisis in
Europe at its peak, foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country has fallen steeply.
This has increased Indias trade deficit. While the value of goods being imported into
the country is as high as ever, Indian exporters are finding it difficult to sell their goods
in the weakened International market. As a result while few people are selling dollars
to buy rupees, many of them are selling rupees to buy dollars. Thus the value of the
rupee is depreciating.
Also with the oil companies demanding to be paid in dollars, the Indian government is
forced to shell out a higher price (in terms of rupees) to buy crude oil leading to the
petrol price hike in the country and the widespread resentment against the Indian
Government. With the increase in transportation cost associated with this rise in
petrol, Indian manufacturers are faces with increasing operational costs further
impacting the export market. This is also a major cause of the widespread economic
inflation in the country. At the same time, BPOs, NRIs and others who are paid in
dollars are enjoying a greater income and thus profiting from this scenario.
The Reserve Bank of India is trying its best to arrest this fall by selling dollars and
buying rupees. It has also increased the maximum limit on foreign direct investment
recently to try and reduce the trade deficit. However, with the investors wary of
investing money into risky markets after the Greek fiasco, this step is unlikely to yield
results in the near future. Though the RBI has been pretty laid back till now, Experts
are hoping they will bring implement some major policy changes in the near future
which might help strengthen the rupee.
Hopefully the government will be successful in its attempts to arrest this fall and the
Indian growth story will continue unabated.