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Government decides to introduce women's bill 'next week'

The government will introduce the Women's Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha ''next week''.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana conveyed this to Speaker G M C Balayogi who convened an all-party meeting this afternoon to discuss next week's business.

Later, briefing newsmen, he said while Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP) had threatened to stall the bill if it was introduced in the present form, Somath Chatterjee (CPI-M), Indrajit Gupta (CPI) Mamata Banerjee (TC) and the TDP extended full support to the bill in its present form. The Congress representative at the meeting, leader of the Opposition Sharad Pawar, however, took the stand that ''it was the government's job'' to introduce the bill or not in its present form. RJD leader Laloo Prasad Yadav was absent at the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Congress made a clear shift from its earlier stance and said it is prepared to consider the question of earmarking certain percentages for Other Backward Classes and minorities in the bill.

The Congress Working Committee held an emergency session on Wednesday night and decided to work towards creating a consensus on this aspect to ensure smooth passage of the bill.

Senior Congress leader Arjun Singh spoke to newspersons after the CWC meeting and said there was no change in the party's commitment to 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

Singh declined to specify whether the party would move an amendment to incorporate the proposal to include the OBCs and the minorities, but made it clear that the initiative for reaching a consensus rested with the government. After all Prime Minister A B Vajapyee is swearing by consensus on every issue facing the country, he quipped.

At the CPP general body meeting yesterday, several Congress members had demanded that the party consider moving amendments for earmarking a certain quota in the bill for OBCs and minorities. They said this gesture would go a long way in ensuring the support of the party's social constituency, especially in South India.

Singh said the CWC took note of the MPs' suggestions and decided to work for a consensus among political parties of this aspect.

Asked why the party had not openly stated whether it would move an amendment on the OBC reservation issue, he said this could come in the way of achieving a consensus.

Expressing grave concern over rising prices of essential commodities across the country and the hardships faced by the people, the CWC said the BJP-led government has ''miserably failed'' in checking price rises. The party would stage a massive demonstration in Delhi during the current session of Parliament in protest against the government's inability in arresting the spiralling prices. Similar demonstrations would be held in state capitals next month.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M Karunanidhi today favoured the introduction of the Women's Reservation Bill in its present form in the current session of Parliament.

Speaking at a marriage function at Thiruvannamalai, he said his party did not hold contradictory views on the reservation bill providing for 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies.

"If it was not possible to make amendments to provide reservation for backward classes and minorities immediately, the introduction of the bill should not be deferred citing this as a reason," he added.

"Let the bill be introduced first. Issues like reservation for women belonging to different communities and minorities could be decided at a later stage," he said.

On Balayogi's decision to defer the introduction of the bill until a consensus was reached, he warned that the DMK would vehemently oppose any move to defer the bill indefinitely.

Stating that the DMK had always advocated reservation for backward classes and minorities in the 33 per cent reservation, the chief minister regretted that this was not understood properly by many, including the press.

In the meantime, vowing to continue their struggle for 33 per cent reservation, women's groups met under the aegis of the National Commission for Women in New Delhi today and resolved to launch a dharna outside Parliament for the rest of the session.

''We will not give up so easily. This is a challenge and we will definitely take it up,'' NCW chairperson Mohini Giri said.

Some 20 women's groups, part of the NCW's political core committee, met at the Commission's headquarters and decided on a multi-pronged strategy to pressurise MPs and political leaders to fulfil their election pledges regarding reservation for women.

Rejecting the demand for a special quota for OBC and Muslim women or dilution of the women's quota, the core committee said it would not settle for anything less than 33 per cent.

''If these political leaders are so concerned about OBC women, let them give all the tickets to OBC women once reservation is secured. But they should not try to divide women in the name of caste and religion,'' the NCW chairperson said.

Besides sticking to the 33 per cent reservation, the women's groups also demanded that the ''shameful incident'' of July 13, when the 84th amendment bill was snatched out of the law minister's hands and torn, be referred to the privileges committee.

''How can leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav and Laloo Yadav be let off just by offering a verbal apology when they and their followers have committed contempt of the House,'' Giri asked.

UNI

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