Women146;s Bill to bounce back8230;

The Common Minimum Programme of the Congress-led UPA Government may have taken the lead in introducing yet again, the Women8217;s Reservati...

The Common Minimum Programme of the Congress-led UPA Government may have taken the lead in introducing yet again, the Women8217;s Reservation Bill, a legislation to reserve one-third seats in the Vidhan Sabhas and Lok Sabha for women, but women8217;s groups and crusaders of the Bill, will face an uphill task convincing UPA allies who have so far resisted it in its present form.

For starters, the RJD, which is a signatory to the Bill, still has reservations about the real spirit of the Bill.

The RJD8217;s Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Union Minister for Rural Development, said: 8216;8216;We have never been against the Bill per se, but have always demanded a quota within the quota for OBC and minority community women. For instance, in this election, in Rampur, the Congress8217; Noor Bano was defeated by the SP8217;s Jayaprada. Now, here is a situation where minority representation came down because of a woman. Therefore, we will continue to press for an amendment in the Bill to make it more inclusive of various groups.8217;8217;

Yet another prickly ally could be the DMK, even though it has taken a non-aligned position so far. The DMK has opposed the Bill while the AIADMK has supported it. According to sources, at yesterday8217;s meeting to give the final touches to the CMP, the longest discussion was about the Women8217;s Reservation Bill. DMK has kept a safe distance so far, as the time to take a stand on the Bill has not arisen yet.

According to a DMK source, the party will support the Bill in its 8216;8216;present form.8217;8217; Says the party member, 8216;8216;We are not pursuing any changes in the Bill so far.8217;8217;

Brinda Karat of the AIDWA8212;one of the leading women8217;s groups lobbying for the passage of the Bill8212;is candid when she admits they will have to meet and convince the RJD8217;s Laloo Prasad Yadav and the DMK8217;s M. Karunanidhi to extend their unstinted support for the Bill.

Says Karat: 8220;We have just overcome the first hurdle which was to press for the inclusion of the Bill in the CMP itself. It is now heartening that both the RLD and the DMK are now at least committed to the Bill, as they both are signatories to the CMP. We will meet Laloo Yadav when he returns from the Chapra elections and our members will meet Karunanidhi in Chennai.8217;8217;

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Karat said the demand for reservations for OBC women in the Bill is fallacious as there is no reservation for OBC men. 8216;8216;The reason there is reservation for SC/ST women in the Bill is because we have to fulfill a constitutional provision which makes it mandatory to do so,8217;8217; she says.

This time, however, the Bill is not doomed from the start itself. Even though the Bill lurched from 1996, to 1998 to 1999, without being introduced in Parliament because of the lack of support from two-thirds of the members in the House, the Bill may be re-introduced with simple support as most parties are committed to the passage of the Bill.