URB implementation to bring 3 fold increase in women legislators in U’khand
Thursday, 21 September 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
After the passage of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam-2023 popularly referred to as the women’s reservation bill (URB) and its implementation following the decadal census and delimitation exercise the Uttarakhand assembly will have 23 women legislators. The State assembly has a strength of 70 members. The amendment bill seeks to grant 33 per cent reservations to the women in the parliament ( Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) and in the State assemblies. In Uttarakhand there are at present nine women MLAs in the State assembly out of which seven are from BJP and two from the Congress party. The data shows that at present there are 11.43 per cent women legislators in Uttarakhand. After the implementation of the provisions of the women reservation bill the State assembly will witness a threefold increase in the number of women MLAs.
It is pertinent to mention here that with the nine MLAs the fifth assembly (assembly election of 2022) has the highest number of women legislators. Prior to the assembly elections of 2022 the number of women MLAs has not exceeded five. In the first assembly elections held in the year 2002 and second elections held in 2007 only four women were elected in the house of 70 of Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha. In the elections of 2012 the number of women MLAs increased to five which remained the same in the elections of 2017. This minuscule representation of women in the Uttarakhand assembly is a really a point to ponder especially considering the fact that the women played a key role in the statehood movement which helped in creation of a separate state in the year 2000.
Terming the women reservation bill as revolutionary, the speaker of Uttarakhand assembly Ritu Khanduri has said that it will strengthen women empowerment in the country.
Fact file Uttarakhand- (2022 assembly election)
Total voters- 81,43,922; Women voters- 39,19,334; Sex Ratio – 963 female per 1000 males; Female literacy rate- 70 per cent; Women legislators in current assembly- Nine
