Hanging fire for 27 years: How Women Reservation Bill kept lapsing through its tumultuous journey

Subject: Polity

Section: Constitution

Introduction:

The Women’s Reservation Bill, aimed at providing 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, has been a persistent yet unattained goal for Indian politics.
Since its inception in 1996, the bill has faced numerous hurdles, primarily stemming from political resistance and a lack of consensus.

The First Attempt: United Front Government

In September 1996, the Bill was introduced in Parliament by the H.D. Deve Gowda-led United Front government.
A Joint Committee was formed to assess the bill’s provisions.
Key recommendations included changing “not less than one third” to “as nearly as may be, one-third” to eliminate ambiguity and reservations for women in the Rajya Sabha and Legislative Councils.
Nitish Kumar voiced dissent, advocating for OBC women’s inclusion in the reservation.
The bill faced strong opposition and ultimately lapsed with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha.

Second Attempt: NDA Government

Between 1998 and 2004, the BJP-led NDA government, led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, made multiple attempts to pass the bill.
Despite several attempts, the bill failed to pass, and it lapsed again with the fall of the Vajpayee government in 1999.

Vajpayee Government’s Persistence

After the reformation of the NDA government, the bill was reintroduced in 1999 but faced continued resistance from SP, BSP, and RJD members.
Subsequent attempts in 2000, 2002, and 2003 also failed to gain traction.
An all-party meeting in 2003 failed to build a consensus, leading to the bill’s eventual lapse.

UPA Pushes Forward

The UPA government, led by Manmohan Singh, committed to introducing the bill, despite opposition.
In 2008, the bill was finally introduced.
The bill was referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee, which recommended its passage without delay in 2009.

Red-Letter Day: March 9, 2010

After 14 years of persistence, the Bill finally saw a breakthrough in 2010.
The Rajya Sabha passed the bill with over a two-thirds majority,supported even by the BJP and Left, who were in the Opposition.
Unfortunately, the UPA government didn’t demonstrate the political will to pass the bill in the Lok Sabha.

The 2010 Women’s Reservation Bill: Key Amendments

Lok Sabha Provisions:

Proposed a new Article 330A, mirroring Article 330, to reserve seats for women in the Lok Sabha.
Introduced a rotational system for one-seat states, reserving it for women in every third election.
Allocating one-third of SC-ST reserved seats to women on a rotational basis.
Reserved one of the two seats for Anglo-Indians for women in two of every three consecutive elections.

State Assemblies Provisions:

Introduced Article 332A to reserve one-third of seats in state Legislative Assemblies for women.
Similar to Lok Sabha, one-third of SC-ST reserved seats to be allocated to women on a rotational basis.

Special Status for Delhi:

Amended Article 239AA to replace “Scheduled Castes” with “Scheduled Castes and women” in Delhi’s Legislative Assembly provisions.

Sunset Clause:

Proposed an amendment to Article 334 to introduce a 15-year sunset clause for women’s reservation, aligning with existing sunset clauses for other reserved seats and special representation.