The Hindu : New Delhi News : AIDWA opposes Patil's proposal on reservation for women

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

AIDWA opposes Patil's proposal on reservation for women

By Our Staff Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 22 . The All-India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) has opposed the proposal of the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, of providing reservation to women by increasing the number of Parliamentary seats by one-third.

In a statement issued here today, the AIDWA vice-president, Brinda Karat, described the proposal as problematic and impractical. "The proposal is at variance with the categorical assurance given in the national common minimum programme for the passage of a Women's Reservation Bill. If the Home Minister was serious about breaking the current impasse on the Bill, surely the first step should have been to have a discussion and ensure agreement within the United Progressive Alliance and its supporting parties before re-floating this proposal which had no takers when it was suggested earlier," Ms. Karat said.

Parliament has adopted the 84th Constitutional amendment which received Presidential assent in 2002 according to which the number of Parliamentary seats have been frozen until 2026. Presumably this was necessitated because of the many conflicting demands on different grounds for increase in the number of seats, Ms. Karat said in her statement, adding that the Home Minister's proposal to defreeze the number of seats to accommodate one-third women, would require a different level of consensus among political parties which may not be forthcoming.

"Apart from the financial implications of his proposal, if the intention is circumvent the opposition of some political parties to the Bill, the attempt is bound to fail because the demand for reservation within reservation based on caste and community is not addressed by this proposal," she said. Further, if one-third seats are to be added, that is 180 seats on the basis of the present strength of the House then the percentage will come down by around five per cent.

`Diversion from main issue'

Whatever the intentions of the Home Minister, the net result of this public stance is a diversion from the main issue, which is to list the Women's Reservation Bill for introduction, discussion and voting in the coming session of Parliament. If there are alternative proposals, let these be discussed in Parliament according to the set procedure and rules, the statement said while calling upon the UPA Government to show the necessary political will to implement its commitment for the passage of the Bill.

Meanwhile, the Joint Action Front for Women has also criticised the proposal by saying that while the proposal to increase the number of seats in the Parliament was appreciable, increasing these seats only for women shall spark off another debate pushing the Bill further away from passage.

In a letter addressed to Mr. Patil, the Front has said that it had serious apprehensions that if any change was made in the Bill, it may not be passed at all. "We appeal to you that the Bill, in its current form, be tabled during the coming session of Parliament."

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