Women’s quota Bill fails to make headway

Thus ended the day’s efforts and nothing much seems to be coming forth though Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana claimed the Bill would be tabled next week. But after what Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said, that this would be done only after consensus was achieved, this does look remote.

No party has yet been able to change any of its positions on the Bill except the Congress which is now agreeable to OBC andminority reservation should the others also feel so. However, party leader in the Lok Sabha Sharad Pawar kept silent right through the meeting, mumbling only once that it was up to the government to introduce the Bill.

That doesn’t mean much as without the Congress’ support the Bill will fall through even if it was introduced. The Bill aims to reserve 33 per cent seats in elected bodies to women and this is a constitutional amendment which requires two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha. This is only possible with Congress support.

CPI leader Geeta Mukherjee stressed that Balayogi set a date for the Bill’s introduction in this session but that was not possible with the Speaker getting no help from any other party. An upset Mukherjee and Mamata Banerjee then stormed out of the meeting, effectively ending it.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party general secretary Mohd Azam Khan issued a statement saying there should be reservation for Muslim women in the Bill. He said the Constitution recognises reservation forScheduled Castes and Tribes and this is denied to them should a person change his or her religion.

In a related development, women’s organisations under the umbrella of the National Commission for Women threatened to begin a dharna from tomorrow outside Parliament till the end of the session if the Bill was not introduced.

There are about 20 women’s groups in this protest and they said they were serious about the issue which they see as a challenge to women in the country.