PM Modi announces Women's Reservation Bill tabled in new Parliament

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced the intoduction of the Women's Reservation Bill in the first sitting of the Lok Sabha in the new Parliament building.

PM Modi said his government is committed to ensuring that the 'Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam' aimed at expanding women's participation in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies becomes a law, as he urged MPs of both Houses of Parliament to pass the bill unanimously.

In the first speech in the first session in the new Parliament building, Modi said that the Women's Reservation Bill was given approval in the Cabinet meeting on Monday, and asserted that this will strengthen democracy.

Also read: Cabinet approves Women's Reservation Bill; NewsDrum Breaking vindicated

Earlier, the government introduced a constitutional amendment bill to reserve one-third of seats in Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women, reviving a bill pending for 27 years for want of consensus among parties.

Making it the first bill to be introduced in the new Parliament building, the government said it will enable greater participation of women in policy-making at the state and national levels and help achieve the goal of making India a developed country by 2047.

The bill be named Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.

With several parties parties pushing for reservation of women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies, the bill is likely to see a smooth passage this time, unlike the earlier instances when several regional parties had opposed it.

However, its implementation may still take some time and is unlikely to be in force for the next Lok Sabha elections in 2024 as the reservation will come into effect only after a delimitation exercise is completed

The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023, was listed for introduction in the Lower House through a supplementary list of business.

NewsDrum Breaking on Aug 31: Special Session of Parliament: Women's Reservation Bill may trump other agendas

The government said the women's reservation bill is aimed at enabling greater participation of women in policy-making at the state and national levels.

When will Women's Reservation Bill be implemented

The reservation will come into effect after a delimitation exercise is undertaken and will continue for 15 years. Seats reserved for women will be rotated after each delimitation exercise, according to the bill.

However, its full implementation may await for delimitation of constituences.

The delimitation exercise will be undertaken after 2026. After the completion of delimitation, Women's Reservation will become a reality in Assembly Elections and 2029 Lok Sabha Elections.

NewsDrum was the first media outlet to get it right on the day when the Narendra Modi government summoned the special session of Parliament.

History of Women's Reservation Bill

It was first introduced in the Lok Sabha as the 81st Amendment Bill in September 1996 by the Deve Gowda-led United Front government. The Bill failed to get the approval of the House and was referred to a joint parliamentary committee which submitted its report to the Lok Sabha in December 1996. But the Bill lapsed with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha.

In 1998, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government reintroduced the Bill in the 12th Lok Sabha. After the Law Minister M. Thambidurai introduced it, an RJD MP went to the well of the House, grabbed the Bill and tore it to bits. The Bill failed to get support and lapsed again.

The Bill was reintroduced in 1999, 2002 and 2003. Even though there was support for it within the Congress, the BJP and the Left parties, the Bill failed to receive majority votes.

It may be recalled that Congress Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has written to PM Modi twice asking why the government is not passing the Women Reservation Bill.

In fact, Congress tried to get the Women's Reservation Bill through right before the end of the UPA-2 government.

The Modi government has historically been supported by women voters due to most of the central government schemes benefiting them including Ujjawala Yojana, PM Awas Yojana and building toilets among others.