The Hindu : National : Women’s Bill: NFIW deposes before standing committee

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Wednesday, Jun 04, 2008
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Women’s Bill: NFIW deposes before standing committee

Neena Vyas

Does not want dilution of 33 per cent reservation in LS and State Assemblies

Demands provision for review after 15 years
No objection to create quota for women from OBCs

NEW DELHI: The process of organisations deposing before the standing committee of the Ministry of Law and Justice looking at the Women’s Reservation Bill has begun and political parties are scheduled to make their representations on June 17 and 18.

On Tuesday, four representatives of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), a frontal organisation of the Communist Party of India, met the committee chaired by Congress MP Sudarsana Natchiappan and said that they did not want dilution of 33 per cent reservations in the Lok Sabha and State assemblies. The reservations, NFIW said, could go up to 50 per cent, but not less than 33 per cent.

The NFIW wanted representation of women from all categories and walks of life and would have no objection to create a quota for women belonging to the Other Backward Classes within the overall reservation for women.

Contentious issue

This is a contentious point and one that parties like the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party and the Janata Dal(United) have raised repeatedly. In fact, maximum opposition to the Bill was from parties which demanded an OBC quota within the larger women’s quota, a view opposed by other parties on the ground that there was no overall OBC quota in legislative bodies, unlike quota for the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes.

The NFIW also told the standing committee that the Bill talks about quotas for 15 years. The organisation demanded a provision for “review” after 15 years. It also said it had no objection to reserved women’s seats being rotated as all elected representatives were elected for a period of five years during which they represented those constituencies from where they were elected.

Submissions

Mr. Natchiappan told The Hindu he had already sent letters to all national and State recognised parties to send their submissions in writing by June 10 and their representatives to depose before the standing committee on June 17 or 18.

He said the Communist Party of India(Marxist) said it would send its representatives to state the party’s view on June 17 and send its written submission by June 10.

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