A section of women’s rights activists has urged the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to introduce the long-pending Women’s Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha during the ongoing monsoon session.
To mount pressure on the government, the Centre for Social Research (CSR), a non-government organisation, has posted an online petition, urging Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to prioritise the much- awaited Women’s Reservation Bill which has been pending for the last 16 years.
The proposed legislation, which aims at reserving one-third of the Lok Sabha seats for women and the state legislative assemblies, was passed by the Rajya Sabha in March 2010. The Women’s Reservation Bill (WRB) will give the much needed impetus to the rights of women and will encourage them to play an active role in the Indian political machinery, the CSR said in a statement.
“With a few women in governance at this level, the environment in these institutions is unsupportive of women’s growth and serves to perpetuate their exclusion from the higher levels of political process. Furthermore, women often lack the support networks, mentoring and skills that help them navigate through the political environment and serve their constituencies,” the NGO’s director Ranjana Kumar added.