In this editorial episode, Mr. Sujit Nair discusses the introduction of the Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament by Arjun Ram Meghwal. The Union cabinet, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has granted approval for a constitutional amendment bill aimed at providing reservations for women in Parliament and state assemblies. This development clears the way for the historic bill to be presented during the ongoing special parliamentary session.
Certain BJP members have indicated that the new bill may differ from the 2010 version and could potentially extend reservation beyond the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. Notably, the 2010 bill did not include a provision for a ""quota within a quota,"" which had been a significant demand from various regional parties.
Efforts to legislate reservations for women in the legislature have been made since 1996, but previous attempts have all fallen short. In 2010, the UPA government succeeded in passing the bill in the Rajya Sabha but faced pressure from coalition allies and couldn't bring it to the Lok Sabha.
This time, the bill is expected to have a smoother path to approval. The ruling NDA, along with its ally BJD, as well as key opposition parties including the Congress, Trinamool, BRS, and Left, are anticipated to support the bill in Parliament. Together, it is projected to garner the support of 431 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 175 in the Rajya Sabha.
Shortly after the Union cabinet meeting concluded, Union Minister of State for Food Processing and Jal Shakti, Prahalad Singh Patel, stated, ""Only the Modi government had the moral courage to fulfill the demand for women's reservation, which was demonstrated by the cabinet's approval.""
Rajya Sabha MP Mahesh Jethamalani emphasized, ""PM Modi's Cabinet has taken a significant step in favor of women's empowerment by approving the Women's Reservation Bill, providing for 1/3 representation for women in Parliament and Legislative Assemblies.""
The Union cabinet meeting occurred on a Monday, deviating from its usual Wednesday schedule. The extended meeting lasted around 1.5 hours, but no official announcements were made regarding the decisions taken.
Shortly after the cabinet meeting, the Congress party attempted to claim credit for its prior advocacy for women's reservation. Jairam Ramesh of Congress shared a 2018 letter from party leader Rahul Gandhi urging Modi to introduce the Women's Reservation Bill and quoted Gandhi's tweet expressing support for its passage. Ramesh also emphasized that the Congress has long-standing support for women's reservation and called for transparency in discussing the bill during the all-party meeting before the Special Session.
#womensreservationbill #womenreservation #loksabha #rajyasabha #bjp #congress #narendramodi #arjunrammeghwal #mallikarjunkharge #parliament #newparliamentbuilding #HWNews #SujitNair
Certain BJP members have indicated that the new bill may differ from the 2010 version and could potentially extend reservation beyond the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. Notably, the 2010 bill did not include a provision for a ""quota within a quota,"" which had been a significant demand from various regional parties.
Efforts to legislate reservations for women in the legislature have been made since 1996, but previous attempts have all fallen short. In 2010, the UPA government succeeded in passing the bill in the Rajya Sabha but faced pressure from coalition allies and couldn't bring it to the Lok Sabha.
This time, the bill is expected to have a smoother path to approval. The ruling NDA, along with its ally BJD, as well as key opposition parties including the Congress, Trinamool, BRS, and Left, are anticipated to support the bill in Parliament. Together, it is projected to garner the support of 431 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 175 in the Rajya Sabha.
Shortly after the Union cabinet meeting concluded, Union Minister of State for Food Processing and Jal Shakti, Prahalad Singh Patel, stated, ""Only the Modi government had the moral courage to fulfill the demand for women's reservation, which was demonstrated by the cabinet's approval.""
Rajya Sabha MP Mahesh Jethamalani emphasized, ""PM Modi's Cabinet has taken a significant step in favor of women's empowerment by approving the Women's Reservation Bill, providing for 1/3 representation for women in Parliament and Legislative Assemblies.""
The Union cabinet meeting occurred on a Monday, deviating from its usual Wednesday schedule. The extended meeting lasted around 1.5 hours, but no official announcements were made regarding the decisions taken.
Shortly after the cabinet meeting, the Congress party attempted to claim credit for its prior advocacy for women's reservation. Jairam Ramesh of Congress shared a 2018 letter from party leader Rahul Gandhi urging Modi to introduce the Women's Reservation Bill and quoted Gandhi's tweet expressing support for its passage. Ramesh also emphasized that the Congress has long-standing support for women's reservation and called for transparency in discussing the bill during the all-party meeting before the Special Session.
#womensreservationbill #womenreservation #loksabha #rajyasabha #bjp #congress #narendramodi #arjunrammeghwal #mallikarjunkharge #parliament #newparliamentbuilding #HWNews #SujitNair
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Namaskar, welcome to another episode of editorial.
00:07 A historic day today.
00:09 The Union Cabinet has approved the Constitution Amendment Bill to provide reservation to women
00:18 in Parliament.
00:20 Now this approval by the Cabinet has ensured that this bill can be presented or tabled
00:26 in the special session of the Parliament.
00:28 Now let's talk about the Women Reservation Bill.
00:32 Let's get right into the show.
00:39 So let's start this editorial with understanding what the bill is.
00:45 Then let's understand the history of the bill.
00:48 And then let's understand how is this bill relevant and important to India.
00:54 So that's how we'll go about this editorial.
00:56 So let me start by saying that the Union Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved
01:02 the Constitution Amendment Bill to provide reservation for women in Parliament and State
01:08 Assemblies.
01:09 So this approval has paved way for the introduction of this historic bill in the current special
01:17 session of the Parliament.
01:18 The Constitution 128th Amendment Bill 2023 is a very important amendment.
01:27 It's a very important bill.
01:30 Adhiram, listen to me.
01:33 Article 239 AA, we are inserting it in this bill, which will provide reservation to 33%
01:40 of women in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
01:45 After that, we are making amendments to Article 330A, which will provide reservation of seats
01:53 for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes in the Lok Sabha.
01:56 We are talking about reservation of 33% of women in the same place.
02:04 Article 332, which will provide reservation for the Assembly.
02:14 We are making amendments to Article 334A, which will provide reservation for 33% of
02:21 women in the State Legislative Assembly.
02:24 This is a very important bill.
02:27 And then in Article 334A, we are adding a new clause, which will increase the term of
02:34 the reservation for women for 15 years.
02:37 If it has to be increased, then the Parliament will have the right to increase it.
02:42 I want to explain, Adhiram, it's already there in the supplementary list of the business.
02:51 Now, the new bill which is being introduced today is identical to the bill of 2010.
02:56 Now, 2010 bill, let me tell you, was talking about 33% reservation for women in the, like
03:04 I told you, the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha and the Assemblies.
03:08 Now, that's what they say and they also say that this bill might expand the scope of reservation
03:14 beyond the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly.
03:17 Which means this bill may go beyond Lok Sabha and Assembly to municipal corporations, to
03:23 Panchayats, so on and so forth.
03:25 And they say in 2010, there was also no provision for quota within quota, which was a key demand
03:32 for regional parties.
03:33 That they are looking at a quota within quota.
03:36 Now, let us understand that this bill is not something that is being introduced just recently.
03:43 This bill has been introduced since 1996.
03:45 In fact, in fact, 2010, the UPA had managed to get this bill passed in the Rajya Sabha
03:54 but failed in the Lok Sabha.
03:56 So, this is what the history of the bill is.
03:59 Like I told you, this time around, the chances are this bill will pass, Congress, Trinamool
04:04 Congress, BJD, BRS, left parties are all supporting this bill.
04:09 So, chances are this bill will get passed and we will see women reservation in our parliament.
04:16 So, before I go further, let me try and tell you where did this story start and how did
04:23 this story start.
04:25 This story started way back in 1996.
04:30 In 1996, the then Minister of State for Law in the United Front Government, Ramakant D.
04:38 Kalap had proposed this bill.
04:40 Now, Ramakant D. Kalap, when he proposed this bill, it was a surprise because several leaders
04:46 of the Janata Dal and other constituents of the ruling coalition were not in favour of
04:52 this.
04:53 30 men were or whatever, coalition men were not in favour of this.
04:57 So, this bill was put up but it saw a lot of resistance.
05:04 But that being said, the bill was referred to a joint committee headed by CPI's Geeta
05:10 Mukherjee the next day, the very next day, which is September 12th, this bill was introduced,
05:15 September 13th, it was given to a joint committee headed by Geeta Mukherjee.
05:19 Now, among the 31 members of the parliament panel, then MPs, I am talking about 1996,
05:24 we had Mamata Banerjee, we had Meera Kumar, we had Sumitra Mahajan, we had Nitish Kumar,
05:29 we had Sharath Pawar, we had Vijay Bhaskar Reddy, we had Sushma Swaraj, we had Uma Bharti,
05:34 we had Girija Vyas, we had Ram Gopal Yadav, we had Sushul Kumar Shinde and Hanan Molla.
05:40 So, these were the people, these were the members, 31 members who were selected to discuss
05:46 on this particular bill.
05:48 Now, these 31 members came up with some suggestions also for the bill.
05:52 I am talking about 1996, the first attempt for this bill.
05:56 The panel proposed several major suggestions and felt that the bill's wording of not less
06:03 than one third with regard to reservation for the women was vague and liable to be interpreted
06:10 differently.
06:11 They suggested that it should be substituted by as nearly as maybe one third so that it
06:18 leaves no scope for ambiguity.
06:21 The panel also suggested that there should be reservation for seats for women in Rajya
06:27 Sabha and the Legislative Council and even stated that the benefit of reservation to
06:33 the other backward class should be considered.
06:35 So, three very major changes.
06:37 Earlier on, the bill was worded as at least one third or not less than one third was the
06:47 first, was how the bill was worded.
06:49 They said, no, it should not be not less than or more than and all that, wo sab nahi hoga.
06:54 You will say one third.
06:55 It has to be one third.
06:57 So, today, like I said, the larger understanding is that the bill that is going to be presented
07:03 today talks about the bill having 33% reservation.
07:07 So, that's one of the things they said and like I said, they said that the bill should
07:11 be not only for Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha, it should be for the MLCs, the member of legislative
07:19 councils also.
07:20 So, that's what this 31 member panel recommended.
07:24 The committee recommended that the provision governing the reservation of seats for women
07:29 in the Lok Sabha and the state assembly should be for a period of 15 years from the date
07:33 of commencement of the act, with them being reviewed after the period to decide whether
07:38 the reservation should continue or not.
07:40 So, 15 years, they said from the date the act is commenced, 15 years, dekhenge, let
07:45 us see what happens.
07:46 If everything is fine, we will continue the act.
07:48 If there are issues, we will amend the act, change the act, stop the act, etc.
07:53 So, this was the decision.
07:54 This was one more recommendation from them.
07:56 Now, there is another important recommendation from this committee and the recommendation
08:00 was that the panel also spoke about states where there are existing reservations to the
08:07 schedule caste and schedule tribes in less than 3 seats.
08:12 In such a case, the committee suggested a rotation policy.
08:16 One seat reserved for women in the first term and the other seats reserved in the second
08:22 term with the seats being unreserved in the third term.
08:26 So, wherever there were reservation policies, they said let us do a rotation policy.
08:31 One seat reserved in the first term, the others in the second and the third term there is
08:35 no seats reserved.
08:37 So, basically that was what their recommendation was overall.
08:41 And one more suggestion that I want to get to your note is that they suggested that Delhi
08:46 Assembly should also be bought under the ambit of the bill.
08:50 The committee adopted its report in December 1996.
08:53 So, the report was adopted in 1996 but the bill was never passed.
08:59 Now, why wasn't the bill passed?
09:02 There was some strong voice of dissent.
09:05 Now, one of the voice of dissent was Nitish Kumar.
09:09 Nitish Kumar, the current Bihar Chief Minister who spoke on the reservation for OBC women
09:16 said that the bill provides reservation for women belonging to SCs and STs.
09:20 I am of the opinion that the women belonging to OBC should also get a fair deal.
09:25 Therefore, I want one third reservation should include women belonging to OBCs.
09:32 The reservation should be in proportion of the population of OBCs.
09:36 So, Kumar was like I said, Nitish Kumar was a dissent.
09:40 He said OBC be chahiye.
09:42 So, in this concept of OBC be chahiye, the bill, he was dissenting the bill.
09:46 He did not agree to the bill.
09:48 Now, there were some people like late Mr. Sharad Yadav also who made some statements
09:56 which were pretty controversial.
10:00 Statements like Kaun mahila hai, kaun mahila nahi hai, keval baal kati mahila bhar nahi
10:05 rene denge.
10:07 What he said is who is a woman, who is not, only short haired women won't be allowed which
10:11 means what he was trying to say that only modern women cannot come into the parliament.
10:15 It has to be a larger inclusion of women should be ensured.
10:19 But this statement what he made went, was controversial and it created a lot of controversy
10:26 during that period of time.
10:27 So, it was people like Nitish Kumar, people like Sharad Yadav who had a lot of objection.
10:34 This is 1996.
10:35 Now, let me talk to you about the second attempt.
10:41 The second attempt was in 1998.
10:44 Now, in 1998, July 13th, the Lok Sabha saw a chaotic scene as then Law Minister M. Tambi
10:52 Durai tried to introduce the bill and Rashtriya Janta Dal, RJD and Samajwadi Party's MP registered
10:59 protest.
11:00 Amidst the ruckus, one RJD member Surendra Prasad Yadav snatched the copy of the bill
11:06 from the speaker GMC Balayogi and tore them up.
11:11 So, this is what happened in 1998.
11:14 Again, there was a huge resistance from Rashtriya Janta Dal and people of the Samajwadi Party.
11:20 Now, Surendra Prasad Yadav actually went on to say that Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar had appeared
11:27 in his dreams and asked him to tear the bill.
11:30 So, this was what he said.
11:32 Now the third attempt.
11:35 In 2008, the UPA government finally introduced the bill on May 6, 2008.
11:41 Before the Law Minister H.R. Bharadwaj could rise, SP MP Abu Azmi rushed towards him and
11:48 snatched the copy of the bill even as the Women and Child Development Minister Renuka
11:53 Chaudhary along with some other Congress MP tried to block him physically and cordon him
11:58 off, Bharadwaj and other SP MP hurled pieces of torn paper in the well of the house.
12:06 So, this was the resistance that this bill had caused.
12:11 I mean, people coming in, grabbing the bill and tearing it and throwing it out.
12:19 Now let's talk about the red letter day.
12:23 Like I told you before, 2010.
12:27 March 9, 2010, after pending for 14 years, the bill saw a breakthrough.
12:32 The RJD was no longer part of the UPA government and along with the SP, it extended outside
12:39 support to UPA government.
12:41 In a surprise move, Nitish Kumar made a U-turn and extended support to the bill, leaving
12:46 his senior party colleague Sharad Yadav red-faced.
12:51 And after two days of spirited discussion, the Rajya Sabha on March 9, 2010 passed the
12:57 bill over two-third majority and the BJP and the left who were in opposition supported
13:04 it with 186 in favour and one opposing vote coming from the former leader Sharad Joshi.
13:11 So this was the history of women reservation.
13:16 2010, Rajya Sabha passed it, but Lok Sabha didn't, like I told you.
13:22 And now it looks as if this bill is going to get passed and it is going to be a historic
13:27 bill.
13:28 Now, Congress has constantly been taking, trying to take credit for this bill.
13:33 It was, I would say, a good strategic move by Sonia Gandhi to talk about this bill on
13:39 Sunday, that is a day before the special session, the special parliamentary session, where she
13:43 always kept on saying that this is our bill, we mooted this bill first and we were always
13:49 in support of the bill.
13:50 I think even today, Jairam Ramesh tweeted saying that, you know, our PM says he is crusader
13:57 for women empowerment, time for him to rise above party politics, walk his talk and have
14:02 the women's reservation bill passed in the parliament.
14:05 The Congress offers him unconditional support.
14:07 This is what Mr. Jairam Ramesh says.
14:10 So let's keep all this aside.
14:12 Now let us talk and understand women's reservation bill.
14:16 You see, politics is about representation, representation of gender, representation of
14:24 caste, representation of creed, community as much as possible, because that is the concept
14:30 of a democratic parliament.
14:32 When you have representation, you take care of their interest.
14:35 So to take care of a community's interest, a caste interest, a gender's interest, you
14:39 need people to represent that caste, community, gender.
14:43 And therefore, women who are 50% of our population, if they are not given enough representation,
14:49 then what representation are we talking about?
14:51 So therefore, women's representation bill becomes very, very important.
14:55 Now, let me tell you, let me give you some example.
14:58 India is not the only country who talks about women's representation.
15:02 There are almost 37 countries who talks about, who already has given women's reservation,
15:09 countries including Philippines, which has got 29% representation, Pakistan, which has
15:14 got 17% reservation, Bangladesh, which has got 50 out of the 350 seats reservation, Argentina,
15:23 Nepal, which has also got reservations, France, South Korea, Nepal, a quota of 50% candidates
15:31 list has been reserved for women.
15:33 As far as Argentina, Mexico, Costa Rica are concerned, they have got 36% female representation
15:40 in their national legislature.
15:42 South Africa has got 44.8% women reservation in their countries.
15:48 Countries like Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan have 30% reservation for women.
15:55 Countries like Rwanda has 30% reservation for women.
15:58 Sudan, 60 seats out of 443 seats are women.
16:02 Latin America, 14 countries have constitutional quotas for women, including Peru, Ecuador,
16:08 Paraguay and others.
16:10 Europe, like I told you before, Portugal, Spain, France have constitutional provision
16:15 for reservation of seats for women candidates.
16:18 And Germany, UK are some other European countries that also have reservation for women.
16:24 Australia and several other countries in the West have reservation for women.
16:29 Argentina, like I already told you, Bolivia, these are countries that have given reservation
16:33 for women.
16:34 So 40 nations, as on 2010, 40 nations had given reservation for women, not 37, 40 nations
16:40 had given reservation for women as far as 2010 records are concerned.
16:44 So people, countries have given reservation for women, including countries like Pakistan
16:48 and Bangladesh.
16:50 So reservation for women is important, both in terms of representation and even in terms
16:56 of governance, participation in governance.
17:00 So somewhere down the line, I would be the happiest person if the bill gets passed in
17:06 the special parliamentary session.
17:08 This will be a red letter day for India.
17:10 It will be a great day for India.
17:13 So I look forward for this bill to get passed and till I see you next time, that is tomorrow
17:17 at 10 o'clock.
17:18 Namaskar.
17:19 [Music]
17:25 [Music]
17:32 [Music]