The much-delayed Women's Reservation Bill may not come up in the Budget session of Parliament as it has to be scrutinised by a new Parliamentary panel. A Union minister, who declined to be identified, said work needed to be done on the Bill which was before the Standing Committee on Law and Justice.
"The prime minister is likely to convene an all-party meeting (to evolve consensus). We are taking all efforts to bring the bill in the Lok Sabha in the winter session of Parliament," the minister of state for planning and parliamentary affairs told reporters in Chennai.
Reservations for women will not dramatically and automatically redeem systematic, pervasive discrimination reservations but it will play a key role in bringing women's concerns to bear on public debate and official policies.
A bill to allow the private sector to mine six atomic minerals, including lithium, and deep-seated minerals like gold and silver was approved by the Lok Sabha on Friday.
Shivashankarappa made the controversial remark while addressing Congress party workers at Bunts Bhavan in the district recently.
'Omar Abdullah presented Delhi as a villain in front of the people of Jammu Kashmir before elections and now is shaking hands with them.'
Vajpayee gave this assurance when agitated women members of the Upper House confronted him soon after Question Hour.
Opposition members in Rajya Sabha on Thursday accused the government of imposing Hindi by bringing new bills with titles only in that language, a charge the treasury bench contested while alleging they were stuck with a colonial mindset.
he Punjab government had also sought a judicial declaration that the assembly session held on June 19 and 20 was "legal and that the business transacted by the House is valid".
A meeting of the floor leaders of all political parties has been convened on September 17, a day before the start of a five-day Parliament session, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Wednesday.
The government has given the Yadavs opposing the Women's Reservation Bill a face saver by which they can withdraw their agitation in the Lok Sabha and allow the House to function, and in return, the government has promised them nothing more than a dialogue and time to discuss the bill with Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, not even promising them an all party meeting.
The passage of the Women's Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday has not ended the problems of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
That is only if a 'consensus is arrived at a meeting of political parties convened by Speaker Manohar Joshi on June 16', according to Sushma Swaraj.
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.
Asaduddin Owaisi, who was once the leader of a little-known outfit confined to the old city of Hyderabad, has emerged as a powerful voice of Muslims in the country in recent years.
Jarange said he had decided to call off the fast keeping in mind the sentiments of the Maratha community.
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.
Looking at the history of women representation in Lok Sabha, the percentage remained about 5 till the 1970s and it was only in 2009 that it could reach a double-digit figure.
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 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.
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.
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.
He also asked men to work towards securing for women their due place in society.
The Supreme Court on Monday said the pleas challenging the Waqf (Amendment) Act's constitutional validity will now be taken up by a bench headed by Chief Justice of India-designate Justice B R Gavai on May 15 as the incumbent CJI will be demitting office on May 13.
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 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 deportation of Indians from the United States, deaths in the Maha Kumbh stampede and the joint Parliamentary committee report on the Waqf bill were among the issues that led to heated exchanges and some disruptions in an otherwise smooth first part of the Budget session that ended on Thursday.
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.
Ahmedabad civic authorities launched a massive demolition drive on Tuesday, razing over 2,000 illegally constructed houses and properties in the Chandola Lake area. The operation, which involved around 50 teams equipped with earthmovers and 2,000 police personnel, was carried out days after illegal Bangladeshi immigrants were detained from these settlements. The Gujarat High Court declined to stay the action, observing that the dwellings were situated on the periphery of the water body and therefore subject to demolition under the Land Revenue Code. Authorities also demolished the illegal farmhouse of Lalu Pathan, alleged mastermind behind the encroachments, who is suspected to have helped illegal immigrants obtain rental accommodation and Aadhaar cards.
Gandhi also assured support of her party to the legislation, which she said would be a "significant" step forward in the empowerment of women.
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.
'We deposited money just yesterday, but they did not say anything...'
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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."
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.
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.
