Women Bill Now, But Reservations Not Now!

Narendra Modi Government pulled off a surprise by moving the Historic Women Reservations Bill. The Bill mandates the reservation of 33% of seats in the state assemblies and the Parliament to women.

This move is a bid to ensure greater representation of women in the law-making.

The proposed bill had been pending for nearly 27 years with the last concrete action being its passing in the Rajya Sabha in 2010.

The Bill was introduced today in the Lok Sabha and will be passed tomorrow.

It will be passed in Rajya Sabha on Thursday. But then, the reservations will not come into effect immediately.

It will come into effect after the next delimitation exercise after the census is taken. That means the clarity on the reservations would only come in 2027 and for the Parliament, we will see the women reservations only in the 2029 General Elections.

After delimitation, the number of Parliament seats are likely to be increased upto 888 seats. That means we will have close to 293-294 seats reserved for the women.

The reservations will expire after a period of fifteen years from such commencement. The bill has to be reintroduced and passed if it has to be extended beyond that and will be extended in all probability.