Women’s Reservation: Bill to come into effect after delimitation exercise. What you need to know

As the government listed the women's reservation bill in Lok Sabha to provide one third reservation to women, data shows that women MPs account for nearly 15 per cent of the lower House's strength while their representation is below 10 per cent in many state assemblies.The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023 will be the first bill to be introduced in the new Parliament building during the ongoing special Parliament session.

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

In the present Lok Sabha, 82 women members were elected which account for less than 15 per cent of the total strength of 543. In Rajya Sabha too, women's representation is about 14 per cent, according to the data shared by the government with Parliament last December.

Details of Women's Reservation Bill 

The government said a women's reservation bill aimed at enabling greater participation of women in policy-making at state and national levels. The statement of purpose of the Bill said the role of women is extremely important for achieving the goal of India becoming a developed country by 2047.

Women's reservation will come into effect after delimitation exercise is undertaken and will continue for 15 years. Seats reserved for women will be rotated after each delimitation exercise, the Bill said.

Women's Reservation Bill : A Brief History

The last concrete development on the issue was in 2010 when Rajya Sabha passed the bill amid a ruckus with marshals escorting out some MPs who opposed the move to reserve 33 per cent seats for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies, but the bill lapsed as it could not be passed by Lok Sabha.

While the BJP and the Congress have always supported the bill, opposition by other parties and demands from some for quota for backward classes within the women's quota have been key sticking points.

The 2008 Bill, which was passed in Rajya Sabha in 2010 before it lapsed following the dissolution of Lok Sabha, also proposed reserving one-third of all seats in Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies in each state for women. The UPA was in power when the last attempt was made to pass the bill.

Before the failed attempt of 2008-2010, the issue had a chequered history as a similar bill was introduced in 1996, 1998 and 1999.

A Joint Parliamentary Committee chaired by Geeta Mukherjee had examined the 1996 Bill and made seven recommendations.

Five of these were included in the 2008 Bill, including the 15-year reservation period and sub-reservation for Anglo Indians.

These also included reservation in cases where a state has less than three seats in Lok Sabha (or less than three seats for SCs/STs); reservation for the Delhi assembly; and changing "not less than one-third" to "as nearly as may be, one-third".

*With Agency Inputs