The Lok Sabha today took up the Women’s Reservation Bill for consideration and passing. The Bill seeks to provide one-third reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023 was introduced in this regard yesterday on the first day of proceedings of the Lok Sabha in the new Parliament Building. The legislation will be called Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.
Moving the Bill, Union Law and Justice Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said, it is a step towards women empowerment and it will enhance their dignity by ensuring equality of opportunities. He said the present government has taken several steps towards removing social and economic inequalities in the country by implementing several schemes ensuring equality for women.
Initiating the discussion, senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi said her party supports this legislation. Highlighting the role of Indian women, she said, women’s patience is like the ocean and she works for everyone’s betterment like a river. Recalling the contributions of great leaders Sarojini Naidu, Aruna Asaf Ali, and Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Mrs. Gandhi said, that women played an important role in the freedom struggle and in the formation of modern India. She demanded that the women’s reservation bill should be implemented immediately with sub-quota for SCs, STs, and OBCs by conducting caste-based census. The Congress leader also said, any delay in implementing women’s reservation bill would be an injustice to Indian women. She also demanded that the government must work towards removing every obstacle in the effective implementation of this Bill.
