Women Reservation Bill Passed Lok Sabha: The Women’s Reservation Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday (20 September) during the special session of the Parliament. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present in the Lok Sabha during voting on the bill. Now on Thursday (21 September) this bill will be presented in the Rajya Sabha.
1. Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal had presented a bill related to women’s reservation on Tuesday in the new Parliament House. In this bill, a provision has been made to give 33 percent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and Assemblies. The bill was discussed in the Lok Sabha for about eight hours on Wednesday and then during the voting, 454 votes were cast in favor and 2 against. Voting was done through slips.
2. All opposition parties including Congress, SP, DMK, TMC supported the bill in the House. However, Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) opposed the bill. AIMIM has two members including Owaisi in the House.
3. Congratulating on the passing of the bill, PM Modi posted on Instagram that he was happy to see the Constitution (128th Amendment) Bill, 2023 passed in the Lok Sabha with such unprecedented support. This will empower women and encourage their greater participation in the political process. The way it has received historical support from all political parties, it will prove to be a milestone in the fulfillment of the resolve of a developed and self-reliant India. I express my heartfelt gratitude to all the MPs.
4. Earlier, when the House proceedings began, former Congress President Sonia Gandhi had initiated the discussion on the bill. A total of 60 members including Rahul Gandhi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani participated in the discussion on this bill. 27 women members were included in these.
5. Sonia Gandhi said that this is a poignant moment of my life. For the first time, the constitutional amendment that decided the participation of women in local bodies was brought by my life partner Rajiv Gandhi. Later, Congress got it passed during the PV Narasimha Rao government. Rajiv Gandhi’s dream has so far been only half fulfilled, with the passing of this bill it will be fulfilled. Congress party supports this bill. Congress demands that this bill should be implemented immediately and along with it caste census should also be conducted.
6. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said that everyone will support that this is a big step for the women of our country. I am in support of the bill. This bill is incomplete because it is missing two things, firstly you will have to conduct a new census and new delimitation for this bill. In my view, this bill should be implemented from now on by giving 33% reservation to women in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. He claimed that there are 90 secretaries in the Government of India, of which only three come from the OBC community and they control only five percent of the budget.
7. Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that tomorrow will be written in golden letters in the history of the Indian Parliament. Yesterday, the bill to give rights to women, which was pending for years, was presented in the House. I want to thank PM Modi. For some parties, women empowerment can be a political agenda, for some parties the slogan of women empowerment can be a weapon to win elections, but for BJP, women empowerment is not a political issue but a question of recognition.
8. On the questions being raised regarding OBC and delimitation, Amit Shah said that the Delimitation Commission is a part of the semi-judicial process which is headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court and it consists of representatives of the Election Commission and one member each from all the parties. This commission goes to every state and decides the policy in a transparent manner and the only question behind this is transparency. What will happen if this happens in Wayanad (Rahul Gandhi’s parliamentary constituency), if Hyderabad seat is reserved for a woman, then AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi will get angry.
9. During the debate on the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha, 27 women MPs, cutting across party lines, expressed their views. After the Narishakti Vandan Bill becomes law, the number of women members in the 543-member Lok Sabha will increase from the current 82 to 181. 33 percent seats will be reserved for women in state assemblies also.
10. AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi said that at present OBC is only 22% in Lok Sabha and we had also introduced amendment for Muslim women. Only 4% Muslims are women, they should also be represented. On voting against the bill, Owaisi said that 7% of India’s population are Muslim women and their representation is 0.7%. We voted against it so that they knew that there were two MPs who were fighting for the inclusion of OBC and Muslim women.
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