NARI SHAKTI VANDAN BILL (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 – Polity)

Context: Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar recently announced that the Parliament has passed the Nari Shakti Vandan Bill, indicating a promising surge in women's participation in both Parliament and state legislatures in the upcoming years.

Nari Shakti Vandan Bill

• About: The 73rd and 74th Amendments in 1993 introduced reservations for women in panchayats and municipalities, but similar provisions were not extended to the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.

oAttempts to introduce reservations for women in Parliament were made through bills in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2008, but they lapsed due to various reasons.

• Also known as: Women's Reservation Bill 
• Duration of Reservations: The bill suggests a 15-year timeframe for the reservation policy and includes specific quotas for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) within the reserved seats for women.
• Key Features of the Bill:
• Reservation of Seat : Reservation of one-third of all seats for women in Lok Sabha, state legislative assemblies, and the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
• Commencement of reservation: After the publication of the census conducted following the bill's commencement.

oThe reservation is proposed for a period of 15 years, with provisions for extension by Parliament.

• Rotation of Seats: The bill proposes the rotation of seats reserved for women after each delimitation, as determined by a law made by Parliament.

Current Representation

• Women constitute 15% of the 17th Lok Sabha and approximately 9% on average in state legislative assemblies.
• The 2015 Report on the Status of Women in India highlighted the inadequate representation of women in political decision-making roles and within political parties.