- Monday, November 25, 2024
Last week, the bill was passed by both chambers of the parliament in a special session amid fierce debate between the government and opposition.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA’s decades-long quest to get a law ensuring 33 per cent reservation of seats for women in the Lok Sabha or Lower House of the parliament and state assemblies became successful on Friday (29) when president Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the bill, days after it was passed with overwhelming backing in both chambers of the parliament.
The vice president and chairman of the Rajya Sabha or Upper House of the parliament, Jagdeep Dhankar, signed the bill, officially known as Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, on Thursday (28) before it was presented to Murmu, the constitution head of the country.
Last week, the bill was passed by both chambers of the parliament in a special session called by the Narendra Modi government in the new parliament building. The occasion saw fierce debate between the government and the opposition which wanted a quota for the Other Backward Classes in the bill.
The opposition also expressed unhappiness over the fact that the bill would not be implemented before the next census and delimitation of constituencies are carried out. They also accused the Modi government of going for a political goal through the bill’s passage.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and its supporters were nevertheless ecstatic over the bill’s passage and congratulated the prime minister. He also said at a party event on Tuesday (26) that the passage of the women’s reservation bill marked not only a victory for Indian democracy but also the party’s ideology.
