Cabinet okays 50% quota for women in panchayats

Moving to empower women at the grassroots level,the Government today approved a proposal to raise reservation for them in panchayats to 50%....

Written by Express News Service
New Delhi | August 28, 2009 12:31 PM IST

1 min read

Moving to empower women at the grassroots level,the Government today approved a proposal to raise reservation for them in panchayats to 50%.

The Cabinet approved a proposal for a Constitutional Amendment Bill for enhancing reservation for women in panchayats at all tiers from one-third to at least 50%. This provision will apply to the total number of seats filled by direct election,offices of chairpersons and seats reserved for SCs and STs.

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As of now,women constitute only 36.87% of the total 28.18 lakh elected panchayat representatives. With the Cabinet clearance today,the Ministry of Panchayati Raj will now move a Bill to amend Article 243D of the Constitution.

It will cover all states and Union Territories where Part IX (that deals with panchayats) of the Constitution applies. It will not be applicable in Nagaland,Meghalaya,Mizoram,tribal areas of Assam,Tripura and the hill areas of Manipur.