India votes on women quota bill
2010-03-08 09:00
New Delhi – India's parliament was set to vote on Monday on a landmark bill reserving one third of seats for women, with the government confident it can pass the legislation that has been stalled for 14 years.
The Women Reservation Bill is to be introduced in the upper house on Monday, International Women's Day, before being considered by the decision-making lower house at a later date.
"We will table the bill in the upper house today," Congress party leader PS Ghatwar said. "The bill if passed then will move to lower house."
The controversial proposal to reserve 33% of seats, first introduced in parliament in 1996, would dramatically increase women’s membership in both houses of parliament where they occupy about one in 10 seats.
The legislation needs the approval of two-thirds of legislators. If passed, women would occupy 181 of the 545 seats in the lower house.
"Our government is committed towards women empowerment. We are moving towards one-third reservation for women in parliament and state legislatures," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a women’s leadership summit on Saturday.
The bill has the backing of the Congress-led ruling coalition and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Several socialist parties vow to oppose it, arguing that if passed it would lead to upper caste, not lower caste, women in parliament.
'Gift to women'
Attempts to pass the bill have been blocked by various political groups who demanded separate quotas for women from Muslim and low-caste communities.
Sonia Gandhi, president of the Congress party and regarded as India’s most powerful politician, has thrown her weight behind the bill, saying she attaches the "highest importance" to it.
It will be a "gift to the women of India if it is introduced and passed" on International Women's Day, she told party lawmakers last week.
The main opposition on Monday voiced support for the bill.
"I see no reason why it should not be tabled, it is true that there is no unanimity but there is a huge consensus," senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said.
But leaders of socialist parties such as the Samajwadi Party said they would oppose it.
"We will do everything to make sure that bill is not passed," said Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Politics in India has traditionally been a male bastion, but women now hold prominent positions, including President Pratibha Patil and Sonia Gandhi. India has had one female prime minister, Indira Gandhi.
Women currently occupy 59 seats out of 545 in the lower house. There are just 21 women in the 248-seat upper house.
Panchayats - local governing bodies in towns and villages - already reserve a portion of their seats for women and experts say the move has given women greater status in their communities.
