Encouraging women's participation in politics, the historic bill to reserve 33 percent of seats for them in parliament and the legislatures will impact the country's political scenario, the patriarchal system and the caste struggle in rural India, experts say. Bibhu Mahapatra, consultant of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) project on Legal Empowerment, said: 'The 73rd constitutional amendment, passed in 1992, gave constitutional recognition to local self governance and reserved 33...

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the Women’s Reservation Bill, 2008, that seeks to reserve 33 per cent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. The Parliamentary Standing Committee has approved the 108th Constitutional Amendment Bill in its original form with minor changes, authoritative sources told The Hindu after the meeting. The Bill was tabled in the Rajya Sabha in 2008 and was subsequently referred to the Parliamentary...

The introduction of many new social welfare schemes could be delayed because the rural development ministry and the Planning Commission have yet to agree on a suitable new way to identify the poor, the main intended beneficiaries of these schemes. One key programme that is likely to be hit is the proposed National Food Security Act, which aims to provide every Indian family that lives below the poverty line (BPL) 25kg...

In a bid to ensure participation of more women in politics, the state government has proposed changing the present legislation to reserve 50 per cent seats in rural bodies for women. Deputy chief minister Sudesh Mahto, who also holds the panchayati raj portfolio, has already given his consent to the proposal, which, however, has to be passed by the state cabinet. “We are working on the proposal to grant 50...

The fraction of Scheduled Caste children enrolled in schools is dropping even though Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes are improving their presence in admission rosters, the government’s latest statistics show. The number of enrolled Scheduled Caste children for every hundred students has dropped for a second consecutive year, the statistics released today by the National University for Educational Planning and Administration revealed. The statistics were collected by the district information system...