Women in in the Parliament and Assemblies: India
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’Reservation’/ quota for
History, 1987-2023
Shyamlal Yadav, Sep 20, 2023: The Indian Express
In 1971, responding to a request from the United Nations for a report on the status of women ahead of International Women’s Year, 1975, the Union Ministry of Education and Social Welfare appointed a Committee on the Status of Women in India (CSWI) to examine the constitutional, administrative, and legal provisions that have a bearing on the social status of women, their education, and employment — and the impact of these provisions.
The Committee’s report, ‘Towards Equality’, noted that the Indian state had failed in its constitutional responsibility to ensure gender equality. Thereafter, several states began announcing reservations for women in local bodies.
In 1987, Rajiv Gandhi’s government constituted a 14-member committee under then Union minister Margaret Alva, which presented the National Perspective Plan for Women, 1988-2000 to the Prime Minister the following year. Among the committee’s 353 recommendations was the reservation of seats for women in elected bodies.
These recommendations paved the way for the Constitution 73rd and 74th Amendment Acts, enacted when P V Narasimha Rao was Prime Minister, mandating the reservation of one-third of seats for women in Panchayati Raj institutions and offices of the chairperson at all levels of Panchayati Raj institutions, and in urban local bodies respectively. In several states, seats were reserved for women within the quotas for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
First women’s reservation Bill, brought by Deve Gowda Govt
The amendments to the Constitution were followed by demands for reservation in the legislature from several quarters. On September 12, 1996, the government of Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda tabled The Constitution (81st Amendment) Bill, which sought to reserve one-third of seats for women in Parliament and state legislatures.
Support for the Bill cut across party lines, and many MPs sought its passage unanimously, on the same day. However, other MPs, especially those belonging to the OBCs, protested strongly, either opposing the Bill, or seeking changes in it.
Uma Bharti, the BJP MP from Khajuraho, said: “My demand is that there should be reservation for backward-caste women also, as in the Panchayati Raj system. This should be incorporated in this Bill because women from the backward castes suffer the most.”
The Prime Minister agreed that some of the issues raised by MPs could not be brushed aside, and told Parliament that he would call a meeting of leaders of all parties that same day. Deve Gowda’s United Front coalition had parties with OBC support bases, including his own Janata Dal and Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, and was supported from the outside by the Congress.
The Bill was sent to a Select Committee of Parliament headed by veteran CPI leader Geeta Mukherjee. The Committee, with 21 members from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha, had stalwarts including Sharad Pawar, Nitish Kumar, Mamata Banerjee, Uma Bharti, and the late Sushma Swaraj. The panel noted that seats for women had been reserved within the SC/ST quotas, but there was no such benefit for OBC women because there is no provision for OBC reservation. It recommended, therefore, that the government “may consider…extending…reservation to OBCs also at the appropriate time so that the women belonging to OBCs will also get the benefit of reservation”.
The Bill was tabled in both Houses on December 9, 1996. But it was clear that the government had lost the will to push it through. On December 20, 1996, Mukherjee said in Lok Sabha: “Today is the last day of the (Parliament’s Winter) session. Government must come out with a clear understanding of what they are going to do with the Bill.”
The Gujral Govt made failed efforts to reach a consensus.
In April 1997, Deve Gowda was forced to resign by Sitaram Kesri’s Congress, and Inder Kumar Gujral became Prime Minister. Two rounds of all-party meetings were held, but no breakthrough could be achieved. On May 16, 1997, when the Bill was taken up again, OBC MPs led the opposition.
Nitish, who had formed the Samta Party along with George Fernandes, argued: “Today, out of the 39 women members, only four belong to OBCs… The population of women is 50% and OBCs are 60%, but is anyone speaking for the OBC women out of the 50% women?” But the discussion could not proceed, and the House was adjourned sine die.
When Parliament met in its Monsoon Session, Prime Minister Gujral issued a “confession” on August 13, 1997: “My confession is that in every political party, there are two opinions. I will be letting down the individual members…if I tell you what they say when they come and talk to me. [But]…except the Left, there is division in every party.” On November 28, 1997, amid uproar over the report of the Justice M C Jain Commission that inquired into the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the Congress withdrew support from the Gujral government. With the dissolution of Lok Sabha, the women’s reservation Bill lapsed.
Under Vajpayee, high-voltage drama and two failures
On July 12, 1998, soon after the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government took over, MPs including Mamata Banerjee, who had broken away from the Congress earlier that year, and BJP leader Sumitra Mahajan, disrupted proceedings in Parliament demanding the introduction of the women’s reservation Bill.
On July 20, as Law Minister M Thambi Durai rose to introduce the Bill to reserve one-third of seats for women, RJD MP Surendra Prakash Yadav snatched it from his hand and, along with his party colleague Ajit Kumar Mehta, picked up more copies of the Bill and tore them up. Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh Yadav defended their actions.
While parties like the RJD and SP, and even OBC MPs from the BJP, opposed the Bill strongly, MPs such as G M Banatwala of the IUML, and Iliyas Azmi of the BSP demanded representation for Muslim women as well. In December 1998, Mamata caught SP member Daroga Prasad Saroj by the collar in order to prevent him from reaching the Speaker’s table.
In April 1999, after Jayalalithaa withdrew support to Vajpayee’s government, a vote of confidence was taken in Parliament, which the government lost by a single vote. Lok Sabha was dissolved, and the Bill lapsed again.
Vajpayee returned as Prime Minister after the elections of 1999, and the demand to introduce the Bill resurfaced. On December 23, 1999, during Parliament’s Winter Session, Law Minister Ram Jethmalani introduced The Constitution (85th Amendment Bill) to give reservation to women amid disruptions. Several members including Mulayam and Raghuvansh Prasad Singh of the RJD protested strongly, saying the introduction of the Bill was illegal.
Members of BJP Women’s wing burning the effigy of opponents of women’s reservation bill at Hutatma Chowk in Mumbai in 1998. In April 2000, the Election Commission asked political parties their opinion on reservation for women. On March 7, 2003, Prime Minister Vajpayee made another attempt to build a consensus at an all-party meeting. He was not successful, and the NDA lost power in the elections of 2004.
Under UPA, Manmohan-Sonia efforts too were unsuccessful
On August 22, 2005, Sonia Gandhi convened a meeting to find consensus on the women’s reservation Bill, which was attended by UPA constituents and the Left parties. Two days later, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met with leaders of the NDA and other parties. Three proposals relating to the women’s reservation Bill were considered.
First, to re-introduce the lapsed Bill providing 33% reservation of seats for women. Second, to reserve one-third of seats for women, but to then increase the overall strength of the legislatures, so that the actual number of unreserved seats do not decrease. And third, to implement the so-called “M S Gill formula” — the proposal of the Election Commission to make it mandatory for recognised political parties to field a minimum agreed percentage of women in elections to state Assemblies and Parliament.
On May 6, 2008, the UPA government introduced The Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, 2008 in Rajya Sabha. The Bill, which sought to reserve one-third of all seats for women in Lok Sabha and the state legislative Assemblies, including one third of the seats reserved for SCs and STs, was referred to the Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice on May 8.
The Standing Committee gave its report on December 17, 2009, and the Manmohan Singh Cabinet approved the Bill on February 25, 2010. The Bill was passed by Rajya Sabha on March 9. However, due to differences within the UPA and even within the Cabinet, the Bill was never brought to Lok Sabha, and it lapsed with the dissolution of the Lower House.
Meanwhile, in May 2013, the Ministry of Women and Child Development constituted a committee on the status of women, which recommended: “Ensure at least 50 per cent reservation of seats for women in the Local bodies, State Legislative Assemblies, Parliament, Ministerial levels and all decision‐making bodies of the government.”
BJP’s manifesto promise and push by Modi and Sangh Parivar
The BJP’s 2014 Sankalp Patra (manifesto) had said: “Women’s welfare and development will be accorded a high priority at all levels within the government, and BJP is committed to 33% reservation in parliamentary and state assemblies through a constitutional amendment.” The 2019 Sankalp Patra repeated the same words.
Women have emerged as a significant constituency for the BJP, and the party has benefitted from the goodwill generated by women-focussed welfare schemes like the Ujjwala Yojna. The Sangh Parivar has identified women as an important section of the population: on Saturday, the R S S said in its Pune meeting that it is going to increase the representation of women in its organisations.
