Photo: AFP

COMRADES IN ARMS: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, actor Preity Zinta and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's wife Gursharan Kaur at a function in New Delhi on Thursday to celebrate Women's Day. The Delhi Commission for Women in association with Godfrey Phillips Bravery celebrated the day with a slew of events to showcase various aspects of women's empowerment.

NEW DELHI: Women parliamentarians had their say in both Houses of Parliament on the occasion of International Women's Day on Thursday but were unable to secure a concrete assurance from the Government on the introduction of the Women's Reservation Bill.

All they got was a reiteration of the Government's commitment to bring the Bill to Parliament before its term ended. In the Rajya Sabha, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said: "Our Government remains committed to work towards broad based consensus on the Bill." Some months back the initiative "nearly succeeded but some problems arose and we could not bring it in the last session of Parliament."

Responding to the demand for a commitment on the introduction of the Bill in the Lok Sabha, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said a consensus-building exercise was on since it was a Constitutional Amendment requiring two-thirds majority for passage. "We will introduce it before our term is over."

Earlier, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee made a reference to International Women's Day before setting aside time from Question Hour to allow women members to air their views. However, as the women MPs refused to confine themselves to a minute each and nearly half of Question Hour was taken up, the Speaker quipped: "I made a mistake, I find."

Cutting across party lines, the refrain of women MPs was that every year platitudes are offered to women's empowerment — both inside and outside Parliament — but the Bill remained an elusive goal. First off the block was Sumitra Mahajan (Bharatiya Janata Party). Krishna Tirath (Congress) asked members to raise their hands if they supported the introduction of the Bill. Some members obliged; giving enough reason to other women MPs to continue taking digs at parliamentarians for paying lip service to women's empowerment. While P. Satheedevi and C.S. Sujatha (Communist Party of India-Marxist), Bhavani Rajenthiran (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), Sushila Kerketta (Congress), and Archana Nayak (Biju Janata Dal) raised the same issue, Ranjeet Ranjan (Lok Janshakti Party) also referred to the many unsung women who wage daily battles of existence all over the country.

Of the view that the Women's Reservation Bill would never see the light of day, Maneka Gandhi (BJP) said that instead parties should give one-third tickets to women. And, a beginning should be made with the upcoming Assembly elections, she suggested.

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