INDIAN HOUSE PASSES BILL EMPOWERING WOMEN

Communist Party of India leader Brinda Karat, (centre) and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj (right) celebrate outside the Indian Parliament after the Women's Reservation Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament, in New Delhi, on Tuesday

New Delhi, India - Nearly 14 years after it was first introduced in Parliament, the keenly awaited Women's Reservation Bill was finally adopted by the Rajya Sabha yesterday amidst unprecedented tension and acrimony.

• The motion was adopted with 186 lawmakers voting in favour of the Bill and just one vote against. Forty-six lawmakers belonging to the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Trinamool Congress abstained from voting.
• "It is a historic step towards emancipation of womanhood in India," a satisfied Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said soon after the historic Bill was passed.
• The Bill has just crossed the first hurdle before it can become a law since it requires to be adopted by the Lok Sabha as well as half of the 28 state legislative assemblies.
• There is no word as yet on when the government intends to introduce it in the Lok Sabha in the wake of the uncertainty the controversial Bill has created over its stability. In the process of getting the Bill passed, the Congress party-led coalition government has rubbed some of his allies and supporting parties the wrong way.
• As the motion was being put to vote in the Rajya Sabha, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav drove to the President's House to hand over to President Pratibha Patil a letter formally withdrawing support of their respective parties — Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal — to the government. Together they have 25 lawmakers in the Lok Sabha.

Source: Gulf News, Photo: AP