Rajya Sabha clears women’s reservation bill unanimously

Source: The post is based on the article “Rajya Sabha clears women’s reservation bill unanimously”  published in The Hindu on 22nd September 2023

What is the News?

Parliament has passed the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023 or the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.

The Bill seeks to reserve one-third of all seats for women in Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies.

What are the key provisions of Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023?

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What is the participation of women in Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies?

Parliament: Women’s representation in Lok Sabha has increased from 5% in the first Lok Sabha to 15% in the current Lok Sabha.

Currently, 15% of Lok Sabha MPs and 13% of Rajya Sabha MPs are women.

The highest proportion of women representatives elected to Lok Sabha so far was in the 2019 elections, but it was nearly 15% of total membership while the highest proportion of women representatives to Rajya Sabha stood at 12.7% in 2014.

Among parties with more than 10 seats in Lok Sabha, 42% of Biju Janata Dal(BJD) MPs and 39% of Trinamool Congress(TMC) MPs are women. In Rajya Sabha, 17% of Indian National Congress (INC) MPs are women.

State Assemblies: No state has more than 20% women representation in its Assembly .Chhattisgarh has the highest representation with 18% women MLAs while Himachal Pradesh has just one woman MLA and Mizoram has none.