New Delhi: Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will move to take up the Women's Reservation Bill for consideration and passing, in the Lok Sabha will. The Bill seeks to provide one-third reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.
A constitutional amendment bill reserving 33 per cent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, reviving a proposal pending for years and blending history, politics and societal imperatives on the first day in the new Parliament building, was introduced by the government on Tuesday.
The women's reservation bill, officially named as Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, was introduced in the Lower House by Meghwal, will come into effect only after a delimitation exercise is completed and is therefore unlikely to be in force during the next Lok Sabha elections in 2024. It was the first bill to be introduced in the new Parliament building.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said September 19 will be etched in history and god has chosen him for the noble work. "The Narishakti Vandan Adhiniyam will further strengthen our democracy I assure all mothers, sisters and daughters of the nation that we are committed to making this bill into a law," PM Modi said in his first speech in the first session in the new premises amid thumping of desks by members of both treasury and opposition benches.
- 2 pm
TDMK MP K Kanimozhi urged the House to stop saluting women. "We do not want to be put on a pedestal. We don’t want to be worshipped. We don’t want to be called as mothers. We don’t want to be called your sister or wife. We want to be respected as equals. Let us get down from the pedestal and walk as equals." Read more... - 1.20 pm
The United Nations Women said it hopes that political parties across the board will come together to ensure timely implementation of the women's reservation bill given that gender quotas in policies and politics. It is crucial to advancing gender equality and women's rights. "Reserving 33 per cent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies will "leapfrog India into one of 64 countries" that have reservation for women in their national parliaments." Read more... - 11.25 am
Congress senior leader Sonia Gandhi who supported the Women's Reservation Bill during her speech in the Lok Sabha while she initiated the debate on behalf of her party in the Lok Sabha. "The initiative behind the bill is my husband (ex-Prime Minister) Rajiv Gandhi's dream." She also questioned the delay in implementation. Read more... - 10.55 am
Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal has said the copies of the Preamble of the Constitution circulated to the members carried the original version of the Preamble, which did not feature these words, which were added later through constitutional amendments. - 10.35 am
Congress alleged that the ruling BJP has deliberated dropped the words "secular" and "socialist" from the Preamble in the copies of the Constitution given to lawmakers on the opening day of the new Parliament building. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said any Preamble shared today will have to be the updated and one and claiming it to be the original Preamble does not hold water. Read more... - 9.45 am
Law and Justice Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal to move the One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment Bill, 2023 in the House to further amend the Constitution of India to provide for the one-third seats to be reserved for women in Lok Sabha, state legislative assemblies and Delhi legislative assembly. - 9.25 am
In the Rajya Sabha, a discussion on India's Space Journey marked by successful soft landing of Chandrayaan -3 has been listed in the business of the House for Wednesday. Two bills - the Repealing and Amending Bill, 2023 and the Post Office Bill, 2023 are listed for consideration and passing, in the Council of States.
