Proposal for 50 per cent quota to women in panchayats deferred

New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) A proposal to amend the
Constitution to provide 50 per cent reservation to women in
panchayats and other local bodies could not be taken up at a
meeting of the Union Cabinet on Thursday and is likely to come
up next week.

The proposal, listed for consideration at the Cabinet
meeting on Thursday, was deferred as Panchayat Raj Minister C
P Joshi was not present, Information and Broadcasting Minister
Ambika Soni told reporters here, adding that the Minister had
requested that it could be taken up later.

The proposal, which seeks to amend Article 243(d) of the
Constitution providing for one-third reservation for women in
panchayats by enhancing it to 50 per cent, is expected to
figure in next week's Cabinet meeting.

Government's intention in this regard was outlined by
President Pratibha Patil in her address to the joint sitting
of Parliament on June four when she said that a constitutional
amendment would be brought in to provide 50 per cent quota for
women in panchayats and urban local bodies.

Government feels enhancing reservation in panchayats and
urban local bodies would lead to more women entering the
public sphere and this, in turn, would help address issues
like multiple deprivations of class, caste and gender suffered
by them.

Bihar, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
are among the few states which have already implemented 50 per
cent reservation for women in panchayati raj institutions.

While Rajasthan has announced that it would implement the
proposal in the next panchayat election in 2010, Kerala
declared on Wednesday that it would bring a legislation
next month to put it into operation. PTI MS
SDE
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