Women’s Reservation Bill: Still long wait for justice

By Jessy Kurian

New Delhi, Oct 17, 2023: The ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’ is the first Bill, introduced in the new Parliament building. It was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Minister of Law and Justice Arun Ram Meghwal on September 18 and was passed two days later with 454 votes in favor and two against. Subsequently on October 21 the Bill was passed unanimously in the Rajya Sabha with 214 votes. A gigantic leap towards equality.

It is said, once the law comes into force, the number of women members would rise to 181 from 82. At present women MPs make up a mere 15 percent of the strength of the Lok Sabha and around 10 percent in many State Assemblies. The Bill provides one-third reservation for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. However, there is no separate reservation for women from the Other Backward Classes. The law will be in force for 15 years. The reserved seats will be rotated after every delimitation.

For the past 75 years Indian women have waited for equal participation in the decision making of our nation, the biggest democracy in the world. However, with the declaration of 33 percent in 1989, by the then government, the women thought that it will lead to equality one day. But now, the provisions in the Constitution (128th Amendment) Bill,2023, show that the women’s reservation will come into effect only after the delimitation exercise or the redrawing of constituencies taking into account the data of the census conducted. Hence, again the Bill will have to cross several hurdles before it becomes a reality.

When we trace back the history of the bill, it was former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who in May 1989 first introduced the 65th Constitutional Amendment Bill (Nagarpalika Bill) in the Lok Sabha with the objective to provide one-third reservation for women in rural and urban local bodies. The Bill was passed in Lok Sabha but failed to get passed in Rajya Sabha in September 1989.

In 1992 and 1993, then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao reintroduced the Constitution Amendment Bills 72 and 73, which reserved one third (33 percent) of all seats and chairperson posts for women in rural and urban local bodies. These Bills were passed by both the Houses and became the law of the nation. Now there are nearly 1.5 million elected women representatives in Panchayats and Nagarpalikas across the country.

Thereafter on September12, 1996, Deve Gowda-led United Front Government for the first time introduced the 81st Constitution Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha for reservation of women in the Parliament. Hower, the Bill lapsed with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha.

Two years later, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government pushed the Women’s Reservation Bill in the 12th Lok Sabha in 1998. However, this time too, the Bill failed to get support, and lapsed again. Subsequently the same government reintroduced the Bill in 1999, 2002 and 2003. Unfortunately ,again it failed.

Five years later, the Bill again gained some traction during Manmohan Singh-led UPA government-1. In 2004, the government included it in its Common Minimum Program and finally tabled it on May 6, 2008, this time in Rajya Sabha to prevent it from lapsing again. After crossing many hurdles, the Bill was eventually passed in the Rajya Sabha with 186-1 votes on March 9, 2010. However, the Bill was never taken up for consideration in the Lok Sabha and eventually lapsed in 2014 with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha.

It simply shows that the patriarchy had no political will to promote women and to establish equality which is enshrined under the Constitution.

It is also pertinent to note that one month ago, on August 11, the Supreme Court Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SV Bhatti had questioned the Central Government for not making its stand clear on the issue of women reservation on a PIL filed by National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW).

The support of the political parties and the passing of the bill by both the Houses of the Parliament now clearly show that the mindset of men/patriarchy/ political parties has changed. The attitudes and outlook towards women are becoming positive. There is recognition and acceptance of women’s achievements in nation-building and women are in no way inferior but equal.

However, a Bill passed without any intention to implement is just misleading the women for political mileage. It is now in the court of the ruling party. A quick implementation is needed. If not, women, the beneficiaries will not benefit out of the bill and the patriarchy will reap political mileage. It should be implemented in the next election in 2024 itself. A hurried passing of the bill and delayed implementation of the same can defeat justice. Justice delayed, Justice denied.

(Jessy Kurian is a Supreme Court advocate and former member of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions and founder president of Citizens Rights, an NGO to promote Women Empowerment.)