what is women reservation bill

The Womens Reservation Bill is a bill passed in the Parliament of India which seeks to amend the Constitution of India to reserve one-third of all seats in the lower house of Parliament of India, the Lok Sabha, and the state legislative assemblies for women. The bill was first introduced in 1996 and has been reintroduced several times since then. The Rajya Sabha passed the bill on March 9, 2010, but the Lok Sabha never voted on the bill, and it lapsed since it was still pending in Lok Sabha and the Lok Sabha expired during this two times in 2014 and 2019. However, on September 21, 2023, a new bill was passed in Lok Sabha that would reserve one-third of parliament's seats for women, which is a major boost for gender equality in India. The allocation of reserved seats shall be determined by such authority as prescribed by Parliament. The bill also constitutionally entrenches women's representation in parliament. There are divergent views on the reservation policy, with proponents stressing the necessity of affirmative action to improve the condition of women, while others have different opinions.