Centre for delinking women's quota from Census; explores lottery for polls, Pg9

Key Highlights:

• The Union government is considering delinking the Women's Reservation Act from the Census and delimitation exercises.
• The government may implement the Act before the 2027 Assembly elections, potentially affecting Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
• A lottery system is being explored to earmark one-third of constituencies for women.
• Kiren Rijiju has consulted with Mallikarjun Kharge on amending the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.
• The government aims to introduce an amendment during the ongoing Budget session, concluding on April 2.

Detailed Insights:

• The Women's Reservation Act, officially the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, mandates 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.
• The Act's implementation was initially linked to the first Census after its commencement, followed by delimitation, causing delays due to the postponed 2021 Census.
• Opposition parties, including the Congress, DMK, and TMC, have urged the government to fast-track the Act's implementation without waiting for Census and delimitation.
• The house-listing operations for the Census 2027 will be conducted between April 1 and September 30, 2026, across all States and Union Territories, followed by population enumeration in early 2027.
• Concerns were raised by opposition leaders during the Bill's passage in September 2023 regarding the condition linking it to delimitation, fearing indefinite delays in implementation.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Delimitation: The process of redrawing boundaries of parliamentary or assembly constituencies to represent changes in population.
• Census: A periodic count of a country's population, collecting data on demographics, social, and economic characteristics.
• Women's Reservation Act: Legislation reserving seats for women in legislative bodies to enhance their political representation.