Womens Bill introduced in Rajya Sabha amid scuffles

Wed, May 7 01:48 AM

The first irrevocable determined step towards women empowerment was taken on Tuesday amidst high drama in the Rajya Sabha with the UPA introducing the much-talked about Women's Reservation Bill in the Upper House.

The move to table the Bill now means that the legislation will not lapse. Law and justice minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj introduced it, even as SP member Abu Asim Azmi, who along with his party colleagues, rushed to the well of the House protesting against anti-North Indian remarks by MNS chief Raj Thackeray.

Now despite objections from many parties including RJD, SP and JD(U), the government ensured that at least one concrete step of introducing the Bill has been completed, as from now it would not be required to re-introduce it.

The same Bill had earlier thrice been introduced in Lok Sabha in 1996,1998 and 1999 and on all the occasions they were not passed because of lack of consensus on the proposal and lapsed with the dissolution of successive Houses.

Scouting apprehensions of the Left and Opposition BJP, the government expressed confidence that the Bill would be passed in the monsoon session after differences over it are ironed out.

''We are confident we will get it passed in the next session,'' parliamentary affairs minister Vayalar Ravi told reporters at the conclusion of the three-month-long Budget session.

Admitting division within the ruling alliance, he said their views would be taken into account by the time the Bill reaches the final stage.

''We always go by the consensus,'' Ravi said, adding that the Bill has been referred to the Standing Committee whose report would go to the Cabinet.

Ravi admitted that RJD supremo Lalu Prasad had expressed serious reservations on the Bill at the meeting of the Cabinet last night, which cleared introduction of the measure.

Justifying the government move to table the Bill in the RS, the minister said, it was a conscious decision so that it would not lapse. Asking the government to prove its credential on the issue by getting it passed by a special session of Parliament next month, the CPI said, if it fails, it would be construed as a ''mere stunt''.

Dubbing the last-minute introduction of the Bill ''a mere mockery'', CPI senior leader Gurudas Dasgupta said if the Congress was really serious about the Bill, it would have tabled it much earlier so that a proper discussion was held on it.

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