Women’s quota stir from July 20 with call to delink reservation from census, delimitation
Pheroze L. Vincent
Multiple women’s rights groups on Friday jointly announced nationwide protests from July 20, coinciding with the start of the monsoon session of Parliament, to push for a constitutional amendment delinking the 33 per cent women’s quota from the census and delimitation and its immediate implementation.
Women’s groups under the banner of the National Coalition for Women’s Reservation (NCWR) announced demonstrations and public meetings near Parliament and governors’ residences.
In April, a united Opposition had foiled the passage of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which sought to enable delimitation based on the 2011 census under the cover of fast-tracking women’s reservation. The Opposition saw this as the Modi government’s ploy to gerrymander constituencies for partisan advantage.
Annie Raja, vice-president of the CPI-linked National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), said: “In 2021, the NFIW filed a writ petition (on the women’s reservation bill) in the Supreme Court, which issued notices to all political parties and the Centre. But the Centre did not respond to that notice, so in 2023, the judge got very furious…. That was the trigger for the government to bring the bill (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023). But the way they have brought and passed it shows the patriarchal, fascist and Manuwadi mindset of the government. They have to implement it now with the present strength of 543 seats in the Lok Sabha.”…
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After the truth-shower 