Women Reservation in Panchayats
As per provisions contained in Article 243 D of the Constitution, 1/3rd of the Seats of Panchayati Raj Institutions and 1/3rd offices of the Chairperson at all level of Panchayati Raj Institutions covered by Part IX of the Constitution are reserved for women. The following states have made legal provision for 50% reservation for women among members and Sarpanches: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tripura and Uttarakhand. A statement giving the position about the Elected Women Representatives in all States and UTs as per the State of Panchayat Report 2007-08 commissioned by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj is given in Annexure.
The Government has approved the proposal for enhancing reservation of women in Panchayats from the present one-third to 50%. Accordingly, a bill for amendment of the Constitution of India had been introduced in the Parliament. As per the recommendation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee, the Government has approved that reservation for Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes shall be on the basis of the percentage of rural population and not total population. An amendment to the pending Bill is proposed to be introduced.
There is at present no proposal for providing quota for OBCs and Minority women within the proposed reservation in the Bill.
The reservation in favour of backward class of citizens rests with the State Legislatures under Article 243 (D) (6). Part IX of the Constitution does not have any provision for reservation on the basis of religion. Hence there is no scope to provide for reservation under these categories for women by amendment.
The above information was given by the Minister of Panchayati Raj Shri V. Kishore Chandra Deo in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
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