Mahatma Gandhi (left) expressed regret that political parties were not doing enought to send sufficent numbers of women to legislative bodies; The first Indian Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (right), championed the advancement of women in the Rayja Sabha.
have long been convinced that a nation’s progress is intimately connected with the status of its women.” The observations of Pandit Nehru articulated in the mid-1950s brought out the significance of this legislation which the Rajya Sabha had the distinction of taking up first. In preferring the Council of States to initiate those historic Bills, the government of the day was underlining the image of the Council of States as a legislative nursery for progressive ideas and forces and for taking steps to advance women and heighten the prestige of our country at the global level.
The preferred Chamber for women’s legislation Five and half decades after the Rajya Sabha was chosen to introduce the Hindu reform Bills, it fell to it again to provide leadership for passing the Constitution (Hundred and Eighth Amendment) Bill 2008 for providing adequate space to women in the political field. While the House took
courageous and bold initiatives in securing the social and economic rights of women in the middle of the twentieth century, it took the giant leap for political
empowerment of women in the first decade of the twenty-first century. With the introduction and passage of the constitutional amendment in the Rajya Sabha to reserve 33 per cent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state Legislatures, the nation realized that the Council of States as a permanent Chamber of our Parliament is of monumental significance in successfully taking up legislation which revolutionizes polity and society and which often is not accepted by some social and political groups. When a legislative proposal is introduced in the Rajya Sabha it does not lapse as, unlike the Lok Sabha, the upper House is not subject to dissolution. Its continuation as a permanent Chamber of our Parliament is its unique and enduring feature and any legislation originating there
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remains alive. While piloting the Report of the Union Constitution Committee in the Constituent Assembly, Shri N. Gopalaswamy Ayyangar had stated that the role of the second Chamber was not to be a clog to either legislation or administration. The idea of a second Chamber is rooted in the fundamental notion that it would prevent hasty legislation. The Rajya Sabha has certainly prevented numerous hasty laws. However there are vested interests inside and outside Parliament which often prevent introduction of legislation envisaging bold social, economic and political reforms. In the particular instance of the legislation concerning the reservation of seats for women, the Lower House of our Parliament witnessed violent resistance when it was introduced in the 11th, 12th and 13th Lok Sabhas. It is in such situations that the Rajya Sabha, created to prevent hasty legislation, is preferred by the government to introduce Bills of far-reaching social and economic significance
to hasten the process of making these into laws for the benefit of society and nation. The role of Rajya Sabha assumes critical significance for expanding the scope of democracy and making it more inclusive and broad-based. The Speaker of the lower House, Hon. Somnath Chatterjee, in his valedictory remarks at the end of the last session of the 14th Lok Sabha on 26 February 2009 stated:
“Personally it is a matter of great regret to me that we have not been able, during my tenure, to pass the Women’s Reservation Bill which to my mind would have gone a long way towards genuine and effective empowerment of 50 per cent of our population. The Women’s Reservation Bill has now been introduced in the Rajya Sabha during the 2008 Budget Session to ensure that the Bill does not lapse with the dissolution of the 14th Lok Sabha.”
With the introduction of such legislation in the Rajya Sabha, it is