Howrah News Service -  Latest news and headlines on Howrah,West Bengal and World: Women's bill champions face parliamentary quest

Women's bill champions face parliamentary quest
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NewsByte on 03 June, 2008 01:25:59
 
After fireworks in its first meeting, a key Parliamentary committee going into
the contentious Women's Reservation Bill on Tuesday saw close questioning of
those championing the cause of quota for the fair sex.
CPI National Executive member Annie Raja and three other women members deposed
before the Committee headed by senior Congress MP EM Sudarsana Natchiappan.
Sources said that the meeting saw those opposed to the Bill in its present form
seeking several clarifications from Raja and others who gave evidence. The
questions included whether it was proper to give such a reservation to women
without determining the class to which they belong.
This was because the reservation was so far being given to classes which have
been discriminated against and not to any gender as such.
The Committee would see a marathon debate on the issue before it and the panel
could also visit several state capitals, the sources said.
The Committee has been given three months to submit its report on the Bill
which seeks to provide 33 percent reservation to women in Lok Sabha and state
assemblies.
The Committee has already written to five national parties and 42 regional
outfits to give their views on the Bill.
CPI-M leader Prakash Karat and CPI leader A B Bardhan have already agreed to
give their parties response by June 10 and participation by the party
representatives during the Committee meeting on June 17 and 18, the sources
said.
The first meeting of the committee earlier saw fireworks with supporters and
opponents of the measure indulging in verbal duel over the contentious issue
pending for over a decade.
Four more women members from the Lok Sabha - Tejaswini Seeramesh Gowda and
Krishna Tirath (both Congress), Kiran Maheswari (BJP) and P Satheedevi (CPI-M),
have been added taking the number of women members in the 31-member committee to
seven.
Samajwadi Party has brought in Ram Gopal Yadav, who will replace party
colleague Shafiqur Rahman Barg in the committee. RJD has brought in its
Parliamentary party leader Devendra Prasad Yadav - a known opponent of the Bill
in its present form - in the key Committee.
The Bill, introduced in Rajya Sabha on the last day of the Budget session of
Parliament, was referred to the Committee.