India's parliament to vote on gender-quota bill

Mar 8, 2010, 8:42 GMT

New Delhi - A bill proposing to allocate 33 per cent of seats to women in India's Parliament and state legislatures is to be put to the vote in the upper house or Rajya Sabha on Monday.

The bill, which aims at increasing the participation of women in India's democracy, has been stalled for 13 years by political opponents.

It would require a constitutional amendment and the support of two-thirds of both houses of Parliament before it can become law. It also has to be supported by 50 per cent of state legislatures.

Both houses saw raucous scenes as lawmakers opposed to the bill disrupted proceedings.

Major political parties including the Congress Party, which leads the ruling United Progressive Alliance, the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the four left parties asked their lawmakers to support the bill.

Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi told her legislators last week that she accorded the 'highest importance' to the bill, and said it would be a gift to the women of India.

If approved, India would be the first country to set aside 33 per cent of seats in Parliament and state legislatures for women.

Currently, there are 59 women lawmakers in the 545-member Lok Sabha, or lower house, and 21 women in the 250-member Rajya Sabha. The Lok Sabha elected its first woman speaker, Meira Kumar, in 2009.

'India was one of the first countries where women were given the right to vote,' Kumar said at a leadership summit for women in Delhi Sunday. 'The Women's Reservation Bill holds many unrealized promises towards women's political empowerment.'

'There is no unanimity on the bill, but there is a huge consensus. You cannot have 50 per cent of India (women) represented by a little over 10 per cent,' Arun Jaitley, BJP leader in the Rajya Sabha, said.

Several smaller political parties opposing the bill are demanding that a portion of the women's quota should be reserved for minorities and 'backward classes,' or groups officially listed as socially and economically deprived.

'We are not against reservation for women, but we want backward and minority community women to come to the forefront. We are simply demanding a reservation within the reservation,' said Laloo Prasad Yadav, leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal party and former federal railway minister.

The All India Milli Council, a Muslim group, also demanded a quota within the quota.

'If passed (as it is), the bill will amount to injustice against the women belonging to minorities and Dalits,' a statement from the organization said.

Political analysts also said that the male majority of lawmakers fear they may end up losing their seats under the proposed quota.