Women’s Quota Bill a political gimmick

Obviously, the Women’s Quota Bill is a political gimmick as the same cannot be implemented immediately, even if it is passed by the parliament and 50% of the State assemblies. The Census and the work on the delimitation of constituencies is long pending but the NDA chose to introduce this Bill in the special session being held in the new Parliament Bhavan. This indicates the intentions of NDA i.e., to gain political mileage out of the Bill. In fact, women constitute almost 50% of the population of India but the Bill proposes only 33% reservation for them, which means the NDA is merely playing the sentiment card without completing the groundwork for the implementation of the Bill that would be passed soon.

Govardhana Myneedu, Vijayawada

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The ‘Nari Shakthi Vandan Adhiniyam,’ the Women’s Quota Bill, cannot become a law until at least 2027 to 2029. The BJP government has full majority in both houses, then why cannot they implement women’s bill immediately? Moreover, it is said that there is no representation for OBCs and Muslim women in the bill. The introduction of bill was made in 2010 when Rajya Sabha has passed the bill for women’s reservations but the same couldn’t be passed in Lok Sabha. This bill is only to fool the women and women are going to achieve nothing with this bill at least for a coming decade. There is no reservation for women from the oppressed and depressed classes, so this bill is a pol gimmick.

Zakir Hussain, Kazipet

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The Bill could have been very well introduced in the last session itself but the government, as is its wont, wants to have maximum mileage by calling for a special session in the brand new Parliament House. However, there is still going to be a long wait as it is to materialize only after census and delimitation of constituencies. How sincere is BJP about the bill can be seen from the number of women candidates it will field in 2024 elections. Law or no law, nothing can debar it from fielding 33% or more women candidates in the coming elections. That will be a true test to see whether party is serious, or it is yet another Jumla on the eve of elections.

Vinay Bhushan Bhagwaty, Hyderabad

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The Prime Minister’s call to all the MPs is to focus on solving the people’s problems and grievances. The people are eager to celebrate the happen things favorable to them from the new Parliament Bhavan. It is a request to all the MPs to collect our issues and grievances to get solved from the new house, friendly and amicably.

G Murali Mohan Rao, Secunderabad

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The Women’s Quota Bill must be seen as a fraud on the women of the nation. The bill would become effective only after the completion of the census and the delimitation exercise has been completed. We would have to wait for the 2029 elections for it to become operative. If the political parties are really serious about reservation, why not begin with giving 33% of the seats to women candidates?

Anthony Henriques, Mumbai

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It is a watershed moment when the government introduced in the Parliament the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’ that was a hanging fire all these decades. It is truly a giant leap in women empowerment and boosting self-confidence of womenfolk in the country, who are no longer at the mercy of their male counterparts in being nominated to either Parliament or state assemblies. The usual criticism and diatribe were echoed by SP, RJD, AIMIM and BSP against the Bill, in scoring their own brownie points that are irrelevant and ill-conceived. The Congress was first to claim credit for the Bill as Sonia Gandhi gave her party’s support to it, saying it was conceived during Rajiv Gandhi’s time. But, what goes to explain that the Congress was not at all serious about it, when BJP had given full support to the bill, when it was in minority.

K R Parvathy, Mysuru