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THE WOMEN RESERVATION ( IN SERVICES) BILL, 2016 AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN INDIA
Authors: U. V. Singh
Number of views: 326
Before independence, different social reformers like raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwarchand Vidyasagar,
Annie Basant, Mahatma Gandhi etc., tried to empower the women in different ways. But after
independence , empowerment of women became a political issue. In Indian constitution the word
women empowermwnt refers to. empower Social status, Educational status , Economic status women
in India. The Women's Reservation Bill or The Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, 2008, is a
lapsed bill in the Parliament of India which proposed to amend the Constitution of India to reserve
33% of all seats in the Lower house of Parliament of India, the Lok Sabha, and in all state legislative
assemblies for women. The seats were proposed to be reserved in rotation and would have been
determined by draw of lots in such a way that a seat would be reserved only once in three consecutive
general elections. The Rajya Sabha passed the bill on 9 March 2010. However, the Lok Sabhanever
voted on the bill.The bill lapsed after the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha in 2014. In 1993, a
constitutional amendment was passed in India that called for a random one third of village council
leader, or pradhan, positions in gram panchayat to be reserved for women. There is a long-term plan
to extend this reservation to parliament and legislative assemblies. Its opponents consider this
preferential treatment of women in India as discrimination against them in admissions to schools,
colleges, and universities.