Historic Moment; Women Reservation Bill Passed In Rajya Sabha (image-www.twitter/narendramodi)
Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Indian Parliament, unanimously passed the women reservation bill after a 11-hour debate on Thursday. After overcoming all the hurdles in the path, the bill will be official soon when the President inscribe his signature on it. By the implementation of the bill, 33% of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies will be reserved for women. The bill was passed in the Lower House on Wednesday. This was the first bill to have been passed in the new Parliament building.
Unfortunately, the implementation will be delayed further as the bill will be only handed over to the President after the completion of census and delimitation process. This decision was widely opposed by the members of the Opposition.
The bill was passed with 454 votes in favour and 2 against in Lok Sabha. AIMIM MPs Asaduddin Owaisi and Imtiaz Jaleel are the two MP’s who opposed the bill in Lok Sabha. While there were no abstentions or negative votes in Rajya Sabha.
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi who was present during the debate said, “The debates were very successful. In the future as well, this debate will help us all. Thank everyone for their support to the bill. The spirit will give birth to new self-esteem among Indians”.
Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar congratulated the members and said it is a historic achievement. “Historic achievement, congratulations. It is also a coincidence that today is PM Modi”s birthday by Hindu calendar,” Dhankhar said after the bill was passed.
It is expected to take at least six years for its implementation and this was highly opposed by the INDIA bloc.
“Amendment of this bill is not difficult… you (the government) can do this now but have postponed it till 2031. What does this mean?” said Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge.
Former Union minister Kapil Sibal said, “We don”t know who will come to power, but they must make a statement that if they don”t complete the process by 2029, they will resign as prime minister and home minister”.
While the government insists that the Census and delimitation are meant to ensure exactitude and transparency. “Delimitation Commission is an important body for poll process in the country. If we are reserving one-third seats… who will do it? If we do it, you (the Opposition) will question it,” Union Minister Amit Shah had told the Lok Sabha yesterday.
When Congress pointed out the inclusion of OBC reservation, BJP chief JP Nadda slammed against Congress and said it was the BJP-led NDA that gave the country its first OBC Prime Minister.
Once the bill is implemented, the number of women members in the Lok Sabha will be increased from 82 to 181.
