Women's Reservation Bill Passed

At last, the magic of democracy worked and the country created a new history. For women, 33 percent seats have been reserved in the legislature, Parliament, and state assemblies of the country. However, the bill that had been waiting to become law for the past 16 years had to struggle a lot this time as well.

A handful of MPs, who put obstacle in the path of this bill, crossed all limits of propriety. They did not even spare Hamid Ansari, chairman of the Rajya Sabha [Upper House of the Parliament] and the country's vice president. The entire country was watching their shameful behavior with awe for the last two days. At the end, the bill could not be passed on 8 March, and it had to be deferred until the next day.

History Written
The next day also, this handful of people did not refrain from their unruly behavior. As a result, marshals were called in and these MPs were physically whisked away from the House. After that, there was no one who could stop history from being made. Then, there was discussion on the bill followed by voting to pass it, which added a new chapter of women's empowerment to the golden pages of our democracy. Undoubtedly, political parties that showed the courage to take positive initiative for the country's better future, rising above their narrow political interests, deserve to be commended for this historic step.

Although there was a very brief debate on the bill in Parliament, whatever was said must have removed several kinds of misunderstandings among people. Another thought given to the measure was that, instead of constituencies, why should not it be made compulsory for political parties to give 33 percent tickets to women conditions.

Rotation System
Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley clarified how this system is in force in the United Kingdom, and has not provided desired benefits to women. However, when reservation was implemented in parliament in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the African country Rwanda, a large number of women were successful in winning elections.

Rotation system has been implemented so that in 15 years, for which this present system of reservation is valid, a woman represents every seat of the Lok Sabha, at least once. Although this bill has to still get approved by the Lok Sabha and state assemblies to become a law, we have certainly taken a concrete step for half the population.