What is Women's Reservation Bill 2023?

Recently, Women's Reservation Bill (WRB) was passed in Lok Sahab and Rajya Sahab. WRB is also 128th Constitutional Amendment Bill or called as Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.

This bill will reserve one third (1/3) seats for women in Lok Sabha, state legislative assemblies and Delhi assembly. This bill has been pending from year 1996. The bill was presented multiple time but was not approved as then government lack majority.

Timeline:

Year	Reasons
1996	First Women Reservation Bill was introduced in the Parliament.
1998-2003	Government tabled the Bill on 4 occasions but failed
2009	Government tables the bill amid protests.
2010	The Union Cabinet passes the Bill and RS passes it.
2014	The Bill was expected to be tabled in LS.

Presently we have 82 women member of Parliament in LS and 31 Women in Rajya Sabha. However, it�s the lowest in the world.

The key features are as follows:

• Reservation for women: The Bill reserves one-third of all seats for women in Lok Sabha, state legislative assemblies, and the Legislative Assembly of Delhi. This will also apply to the seats reserved for SCs and STs in Lok Sabha and states legislatures.
   
• Commencement of reservation: The reservation for women will be effective only after the census conducted after the commencement of this Bill has been published. Based on the census data, delimitation will be undertaken to reserve seats for women. The reservation will be provided for a period of 15 years. However, it shall continue till such date as determined by a law made by Parliament.
   
• Rotation of seats: Seats reserved for women will be rotated after each delimitation, as determined by a law made by Parliament.