Quota bill this session, says Prime Minister

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says the Women's Reservation Bill would be introduced in the ongoing session of Parliament, reports Saroj Nagi.

Assuring a delegation of women leaders on the International Women’s Day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the Women's Reservation Bill earmarking one-third seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies would be introduced in the ongoing session of Parliament.

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His assurance came even as Congress president Sonia Gandhi projected the farm loan waiver a women friendly step in her party’s bid to reach out to the two largest sections of the population.

“I have often said this and you all know from experience that the first victim of any crisis is a woman. For example, when a farmer commits suicide, not only is that the end of his life, the others in his family — his wife and children — also suffer,” the UPA chairperson said at a function to mark the International Women’s Day in the Capital on Saturday. The function was attended by prime minister’s wife Gursharan Kaur and Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury, among others.

The Congress is organising Dhanyawad Abhinandan (thanksgiving felicitation) rally in the Capital on Sunday to congratulate the Finance Minister P Chidambaram for the farm loan waiver.

Earlier, a delegation led by Mohini Giri, former chairperson of the National Commission of Women (NCW), presented to the prime minister and Vice-President Hamid Ansari a charter of demands that also calls for gender-sensitive governance. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, at another function in New Delhi to mark the Women’s Day, said the quota bill has been “sidelined’’ for over a decade.