Govt. sends feelers to Opposition on women’s quota Act implementation, Pg10

Key Highlights:

• Government is seeking consensus with the Opposition to amend the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam for earlier implementation.
• The Act reserves 33% of seats in directly elected legislative bodies for women.
• The Act was passed by Parliament on September 21, 2023.
• Current Act implementation is dependent on Census and delimitation exercises.
• The Union Cabinet cleared the Census to be held in 2026 and 2027.

Detailed Insights:

• The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, aims to reserve seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, marking a significant step towards gender equality in Indian politics.
• Section 5 of the Act links the implementation of the women's reservation to the completion of the Census and subsequent delimitation, leading to uncertainty in the timeline.
• The government is exploring amendments to bypass the Census requirement to expedite the implementation of the women's reservation, but the fate of the delimitation exercise remains unclear.
• The Opposition has criticized the linking of the reservation with Census and delimitation, fearing delays and questioning the government's commitment to women's representation.
• Delimitation is expected to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats, adding complexity to the implementation timeline of the women's quota.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Delimitation: The process of redrawing legislative boundaries to reflect population changes.
• Census: A periodic enumeration of the population, providing demographic data.
• Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam: The Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023, which mandates 33% reservation for women in legislative bodies.