'We deposited money just yesterday, but they did not say anything...'
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday described the women's reservation Bill as a very dangerous idea that could change the Lok Sabha's look.
With the hindi-belt politicians opposing the Women's Reservation Bill, it is mostly the Hindi newspapers that have been covering the issue with some intensity.
There was shock within the non-Congress Members of Parliament to see how the government remained inactive within the Rajya Sabha when the Women's Reservation Bill was tabled on Monday.
The bill introduced by Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh articulates a move that has triggered students' agitation in the Capital and elsewhere -- but little political opposition.
The Janata Dal (United), an ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has sought an extension in the tenure of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) scrutinising the bills proposing simultaneous elections. The party argued that the committee, which has only met once, requires more time for extensive consultations. Meanwhile, the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), another BJP ally, has demanded a "special industrial package" for Bihar, highlighting the state's low per capita income compared to the national average.
The first meeting of the key Parliamentary committee on Women's Reservation Bill on Tuesday was a stormy affair with the supporters and opponents of the measure indulging in verbal duels over the contentious issue. The meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice saw clashes between supporters and opponents of the Bill seeking to provide 33 per cent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
The Central government will hold another all-party meeting this week to arrive at a consensus on the Women's Reservation Bill in Lok Sabha, Union minister V Narayanasamy said on Tuesday.
In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider the separate pleas of opposition-ruled Kerala and West Bengal, alleging the denial of assent to bills passed by the respective legislative assemblies.
The Women's Reservation Bill, which provides for 33 per cent quota for women, will be considered by the Cabinet on Monday night and is expected to be introduced in the Rajya Sabha, sources said in Delhi. The bill is expected to be referred to the Standing Committee soon after being tabled in the Upper House, they said.
There is apprehension in the Congress about the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha if the Bharatiya Janata Party persists with its demand that Marshals should not be used for physically removing protesting members from the House.
He also asked men to work towards securing for women their due place in society.
Faced with strident opposition from the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal over the Women's Reservation Bill, the government on Monday said it does not want to 'bulldoze' the Constitutional amendment and would favour a 'healthy debate' before going ahead with it. After a day of high drama in the Rajya Sabha, where the bill was moved for consideration, Law Minister Veerappa Moily slammed the Opposition parties for the way they protested against it.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday supported the Bill providing for reservation to SCs/STs in promotions in government jobs but asked the government to make certain changes so that it does not create reverse discrimination.
The Indian government has appointed Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey as the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Pandey, a 1987-batch IAS officer, will replace Madhabi Puri Buch, whose three-year tenure ends on February 28. Pandey's appointment comes at a time when the markets are experiencing bear pressure due to withdrawals by foreign institutional investors (FIIs). Pandey has extensive experience in the finance ministry, having served as the longest-serving secretary in the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) and the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE). He also played a key role in the framing of the 2025-26 Budget and the drafting of the new Income Tax Bill. Pandey's appointment is for an initial period of three years.
In more than one way, it's a setback for the DMK and Chief Minister Stalin in political terms. The electoral fall-out, if any, will have to wait until the next summer, only when assembly elections are due in the state, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
The standoff over Women's Reservation Bill ended on Thursday with the government announcing that the proposed legislation would be brought in the Lok Sabha only after consultations with all sections.
The chief minister underscored the back-to-back suicide deaths of a son and his father on August 12 and 13 respectively due to the stress of NEET.
With the tagline "Na duri hai, na khai hai, Modi hamara bhai hai, (there's no detachment, there's no chasm, Modi is our brother)", the campaign aims to attract at least 1,000 Muslim women towards the party.
Gandhi also assured support of her party to the legislation, which she said would be a "significant" step forward in the empowerment of women.
So keen is Congress President Sonia Gandhi to have the women's reservation bill passed in the Rajya Sabha that she told women MPs of her party who met her during on Thursday that "even if they have to snatch papers and tear them" they must do so to ensure that the bill is passed in the upper house of Parliament.
The bills that repeal and replace the Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act will usher in a new era in the criminal justice system, Home Minister Amit Shah said
Giving women an increased share in legislatures may be a good idea but it would have been better had the Manmohan Singh ministry applied a little more thought before placing the bill in Parliament.
The Congress said on Wednesday that Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad did not give any dissent note to the Women's Reservation Bill despite being a member of the Parliamentary Committee concerned, which went into the measure.
The fight over the Women's Reservation Bill will continue as there is no dilution in the Rashtriya Janata Dal's stand on it, party supremo Lalu Prasad said on Friday."The fight will continue and there will be no dilution of our stand on the women's quota issue," Lalu told reporters outside Parliament.He said his party was not against reservation for women "but there should be reservations for Dalits, Muslims and other backward women who are struggling in the fields."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday accused the Congress of seeking to divide women in the name of caste and by spreading lies, as he launched a fierce counter-attack on the party over its demand of OBC sub-quota in women's reservation in legislatures.
Political pundits, sociologists, political scientists, feminists and historians and almost everybody has said that if the bill becomes an act then it will be the biggest socio-political news since independence. This will have the impact bigger than the Mandal Commission that gave reservation to lower castes and it will go deeper than the Ayodhya movement that attempted to ignite Hindu identity cutting across caste barriers.
The United Progressive Alliance government will move the Women's Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha in the coming session, Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said on Monday. The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and other parties have assured their "unconditional" support to the bill, which has prompted the government to introduce it for consideration and passing in Lok Sabha, Moily told media-persons in Karnataka.
Senior leader of Bhartiya Janata Party Sushma Swaraj said that her party was in favour of adopting the second resolution on women's reservation bill, which neither requires any constitutional amendment and also does not warrant reservation for women of any particular constituency.
Taking a serious view of the hooliganism exhibited by a group of Members of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha on Monday during the tabling of the Women's Reservation Bill, a disciplinary action is being mooted, said sources.
Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram regretted that there has been stiff resistance from certain quarters over the reservation bill, which would ensure 33 per cent seats for women in Parliament and legislatures. Chidambaram said this while releasing the book Karmic Divas -- stories of eight powerful and wealthy women written by Prerna Kaul Misra and printed by Vitasta publications.
With the Congress-led government taking most of the credit for the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill in Rajya Sabha, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday patted its own back for the success and criticised the United Progressive Alliance for the forcible eviction of protesting Members of Parliament from the House. Despite being in a minority in the Upper House, the Congress-led government and especially party chief Sonia Gandhi earned kudos for passage of the Bill.
Speaking in the House on Tuesday, he stressed that two-third of the MPs and MLAs will lose interest in nursing and serving their constituencies as they stand no chance of second term and that include all women representatives.
CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury on Monday said the Left parties are in favour of the much-delayed Women's Reservation Bill and maintained that it should be introduced in Parliament in its original form. He said parties like RJD and SP are opposed to the bill, as they have certain issues related to it. However, he said, these could be discussed in Parliament through amendments also.
It said Article 200 of the Constitution empowers the governor to either give assent to a bill passed by the state legislature, or to withhold the assent, or reserve the bill for consideration of the President.
Congress Member of Parliament from Bihar Mohd Asraul Haque created a flutter in party circles on Thursday by demanding that the interests of "all sections of society" should be taken into account before passing the Women's Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha.
High frequency indicators, like vehicles sales, air traffic, steel consumption and GST E-way bills, point towards a sequential pickup in momentum of economic activity during the second half of the fiscal 2024-25 and sustain moving forward, RBI Bulletin said on Wednesday. However, a strong dollar, driven by US economic resilience and trade policy pivots, could exacerbate capital outflows from emerging economies, push risk premiums higher, and intensify external vulnerabilities, said an article on 'State of the Economy' published in RBI's February bulletin.
Seasoned bureaucrat and a stickler for rules Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey will be at the helm of capital market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), for three years. The 1987-batch Odisha-cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Pandey, would replace Madhabi Puri Buch, whose three-year term ends on Friday.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi along with some opposition leaders too expressed surprise over the President not being invited to the important occasion of shifting Parliament to new premises.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will meet Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav on Tuesday morning over the Women's Reservation Bill.
