hyderabad
The recent passing of the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament is expected to bring better days for the country’s female population, said Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC K.Kavitha. She added that the new legislation would open the doors for increased women representation in legislative bodies.
Delivering the keynote address at a conference on ‘Women’s Reservation - Women’s Participation in the Democratic Process’ organised by Bridge India, a public policy organisation based in London, at the Central Hall, Westminster in UK on Friday night, she said there are 78 women MPs in Indian Parliament at present and when implemented as an Act, the legislation would take the number to 181.
She thanked the H.D.Deve Gowda government for its efforts in 1996, Sonia Gandhi in 2010 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2023 for bringing the Women’s Reservation Bill to Parliament. Addressing the gathering, she highlighted the efforts of Telangana Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao in passing the Women’s Reservation Bill.
She reminded that in the first Assembly meetings of Telangana, a resolution was adopted requesting passing of Women’s Bill by Parliament and the same was sent to the Central government. After that, BRS MPs raised the issue on many an occasion and the Chief Minister wrote to the Prime Minister. However, lack of sub-quota for OBC women in this reservation was a cause for concern, she said and vowed to continue the struggle for justice for OBC women.
India prides on being the world’s largest democracy but could not restrict half of its population to home. In the context of the constitutional debates in 1950, women leaders like Sarojini Naidu had argued that they would excel in the political arena as they too had participated in the struggle for Independence on an equal footing with men, so there was no need for special reservations for women, she recollected.
Ms.Kavitha said that reservation for SC and ST communities was discussed and included in the Constitution, but the women leaders at that time felt there was no need for it. However, in the 1970s, women realised that political parties were not giving them equal opportunities and the discussion on reservation resumed.
Almost all the States, barring a couple, were implementing 33% quota for women in local bodies and the participation of women in local administration increased to nearly 57%. Ms.Kavitha said she takes pride in the fact that about 55%-57% of the posts in local bodies were occupied by women in Telangana and 92% of them belonged to BRS.
