Reservations for women in local bodies may go up to 50%

The BJP government plans to bring a Constitutional amendment to increase reservations for women in gram panchayats and urban local bodies from 33 per cent to 50 per cent.

To push this through, the panchayati raj ministry submitted its note to the cabinet secretariat on 10 February and the urban development ministry on 13 February, said sources. The government wants the amendment in place during this session of Parliament apparently because Prime Minister Narendra Modi would like to showcase the change during the celebrations for his second year in power.

"This is a move no political party would oppose so it can get Parliament nod any time," said a senior official. Of course, this depends on there being no logjams in the two Houses this session.

The amendment will have to be ratified by half the states of India before it can come into effect.

The UPA 2 government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had originally mooted this plan. However, though it was passed by the cabinet in 2009, the panchayati raj and urban development ministries had not completed the due process of consulting all stakeholders in the amendment before the general elections of 2014.