Home » News » UPA moots 50 pc quota for women in Panchayats
In a move, which will have the anti-reservationists up in arms and signal the government's commitment to bring in 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and assemblies, the UPA is proposing 50 per cent reservation for women in Panchayats.
Currently, it is only 33 per cent reservation for women in the grass root bodies.
Sources state that the proposal, which is likely to be voiced by President Pratibha Patil in her address to the joint Houses of Parliament on June 4 as one of the priorities of the government, is said to be the brainchild of Rahul Gandhi.
He is learnt to have impressed upon the new Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister C P Joshi that the Panchayats, which are seeing a lot of participation of women, should be increased to reflect their true strength and worth at the grass root level.
It was his father Rajiv Gandhi, who was the architect of empowering the Panchayats and the crucial role which women have come to play in contesting elections and participation in the democratic process.
The decision to make the first woman President of the country, followed by the first women speaker of the Lok Sabha are part of the same chain of empowering women. The Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily told rediff.com that one of the first priorities of the government is to bring in the women's reservation bill which has been hanging fire for long.
Another important priority of the Government which the President is likely to announce in her