'Gimmick aimed at making some noise': RJD's Rabri Devi on women's reservation bill

Making it the first bill to be introduced in the new Parliament building, the government said it will enable greater participation of women in policy-making at the state and national levels and help achieve the goal of making India a developed country by 2047.Womens reservation will come into effect after the delimitation exercise is undertaken and will continue for 15 years.

Former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi on Tuesday said the women's reservation bill brought by the Narendra Modi government should have provided separate quotas for those belonging to SCs, STs and OBCs.

In a statement issued here, the senior RJD leader asserted that ''quota within quotas'' was essential for the weaker sections of society ''since it is only their first generation of women which is becoming educated and aware''.

She also alleged that the bill was ''a gimmick, aimed just at making some noise'' since the implementation was proposed only after a fresh round of delimitation.

''And for delimitation, there needs to be a census on which the government is dragging its feet since it wants to put the demand for caste census in cold storage,'' she alleged.

The government introduced a constitutional amendment bill to reserve one-third of seats in Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women. Making it the first bill to be introduced in the new Parliament building, the government said it will enable greater participation of women in policy-making at the state and national levels and help achieve the goal of making India a developed country by 2047.

Women's reservation will come into effect after the delimitation exercise is undertaken and will continue for 15 years. Seats reserved for women will be rotated after each delimitation exercise, the bill said.

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