CABINET APPROVES WOMEN'S RESERVATION BILL

The Women’s Reservation Bill, 2008, that seeks 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies has been approved by the Union Cabinet on February 25.  The Bill was tabled in the Rajya Sabha in 2008 and was subsequently referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Personnel. “The future course of action will be decided in consultation with the Speaker at the Business Advisory Committee meeting, as the Bill is the property of the Rajya Sabha,” officials told the media persons. The Bill had been pending since more than a decade with repeated attempts to arrive at a consensus proving futile as some political parties including the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party and the Janata Dal (United) demanding reservation for women from Other Backward Classes (OBCs), to make it more inclusive. They contended that unless reservation was provided to OBC women, it would remain confined to women from the elite classes.