00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:05 In a significant move, Union Cabinet
00:07 has given its approval for the Constitution Amendment
00:09 Bill that seeks to provide reservations
00:11 for women in both Parliament and state assemblies.
00:14 This development paves the way for the introduction
00:16 of this historic bill during the ongoing special session
00:19 of Parliament.
00:21 Efforts to enact a law for legislative reservations
00:23 for women have been ongoing since 1996,
00:26 but all previous attempts had failed.
00:28 In 2010, the UPA government managed
00:31 to pass the bill in the upper house.
00:33 However, it couldn't be introduced in the Lok Sabha
00:35 due to pressure from allies.
00:37 The 108th Constitutional Amendment Bill of 2008
00:41 aims to allocate 33% of seats in a state legislative assemblies
00:45 and Parliament for women.
00:47 Additionally, it suggests sub-reservations
00:50 for SCs, STs, and Anglo-Indians within this 33% quota.
00:55 These reserved seats may rotate among various constituencies
00:58 in the state or Union territory.
01:00 According to the bill, the reservation for women's seats
01:03 will end 15 years after the Amendment Act
01:05 comes into effect.
01:07 Leaders from various political parties
01:09 have called for the introduction of the Women's Reservation
01:12 Bill, indicating a broad-based support for this initiative.
01:17 A campaign for a constitutional amendment
01:19 to enable women's reservation began in 1993
01:22 with the reservation of one third of Gram Panchayat Council
01:25 seats for women.
01:26 Subsequently, a bill for reservation
01:28 in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies
01:30 was introduced in Parliament in 1996
01:33 by the HD Devya Gowda government,
01:35 but it did not succeed.
01:37 Even the Vajpayee government attempted
01:39 to push the bill without success.
01:41 In 2010, the Manmohan Singh government
01:43 managed to get the bill passed in the Rajya Sabha,
01:45 but it remained pending in the Lok Sabha
01:47 and eventually lapsed with its dissolution in 2014.
01:52 The BJP had promised 33% reservation for women
01:55 in both 2014 and 2019, and now the bill
01:59 has received the cabinet's approval,
02:01 setting the stage for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
02:04 Currently, about 14% of Indian MPs
02:07 are women, the highest percentage to date.
02:09 However, India lags behind its neighboring countries,
02:12 such as Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh,
02:15 in terms of female representation in the Lok Sabha.
02:19 All eyes are now on parties like RJD and Samajwadi Party,
02:22 which vehemently opposed the bill in 2010.
02:25 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:29 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:32 (upbeat music)
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