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Journalism of Courage
The long-pending Womens Reservation Bill finally looked all set to take off with the government on Thursday approving significant amendments to the Constitution aimed at blocking one-third of SC and ST seats in Parliament and state legislatures for women.
Although movement of the contentious Bill is certain to elicit sharp reactions from political parties like the SP and the RJD,government sources said the amendments could be moved as early as next week.
Importantly,the procedure for indentifying 170 seats to be reserved for women is to be left to Parliament to decide,though the government will bring a separate law for determination and rotation of the one-third seats in Parliament and state legislatures.
The Cabinet decided to stick to the recommendation of the standing committee on personnel,law and justice for a 15-year period to implement the legislation with the underlying principle being that reservation could not be there for perpetuity. It agreed with another recommendation that proposals on quota within quota or reservation for OBCs must be rejected on the ground that such a step would lead to further delay.
The Bill had found mention in the Presidents address to Parliament when it was stated that efforts would be made to get it passed in the ongoing session itself. The legislation was introduced in the Rajya Sabha and referred to the standing committee headed by Congress member Jayanthi Natarajan. It had submitted its report in December last and recommended passage of the Bill in its present form.
