Tripura agrees to increased quota for women in local bodies

AGARTALA - The Left Front government in Tripura has agreed to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s proposal to reserve 50 percent seats for women in three-tier panchayats and urban local bodies across the country, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said Friday.

“The state cabinet in its meeting Thursday night agreed to the draft constitution amendment bill, sent by the UPA government,” he told reporters.

“We have scrutinised the draft bill carefully at different levels and finally the state cabinet gave a positive opinion. The Left Front government also favours the empowerment of women and bringing them into the decision making process and this constitutional amendment would certainly help the process,” Sarkar added.

The draft bill, approved by the union cabinet Oct 22 last year, was sent to each state seeking their opinion on increasing reservation of seats for women from the present 33 percent to 50 in the three-tier panchayats and various urban local bodies.

According to a senior official, several states including Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh have already implemented 50 percent reservation for women in panchayats while Rajasthan and Kerala had announced implementation of the proposal in coming panchayat election this year.

The 33 percent reservation for women in panchayats was made by the 73rd constitutional amendment during the regime of Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, though it was his predecessor, Rajiv Gandhi who first mooted the idea of empowering women at the grassroots.