SRINAGAR: Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed a bill granting 33 percent reservation to women in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. The bill was introduced in the house by Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai on behalf of Union Home Minister Amit Shah followed by a debate and reply by the MoS Home.
While replying to a debate on the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Second Amendment) Bill and the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, Nityanand Rai said, “The twin measures will enable greater representation and participation of women as public representatives in law-making processes in the Legislative Assemblies of Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry.”
“Post revocation of Article 370, widow pension has reached 100 percent saturation coverage in Jammu and Kashmir, and one-stop centres for the benefit of women have come up in every district of the Union Territory,’’ Rai said.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Second Amendment) Bill seeks to provide reservation for women in the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir that came into force following the enactment of the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023.
The law is expected to come into force after 2029 as it will take some time before being implemented as the next census and the subsequent delimitation exercise will be required for the identification of constituencies to be reserved for women, both in Lok Sabha as well as J&K Assembly.
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The bill will ensure that there are at least 29 to 30 women in the House of 90 besides five nominated MLAs. The bill means 29 or 30 seats in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly will be reserved for women after 2029 when provisions of the legislation will come into effect. Within 33 percent of reservations to women, there will be reservations to SC and ST women. Already, seven seats have been reserved for SCs and nine for STs in the J&K Assembly.
When 33 percent reservation for women come into effect, nearly 50 percent of seats in the UT Assembly will be reserved as already nine seats (10 percent of the total 90) are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs) and seven seats (eight percent) are reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SCs). J&K will have 90 elected MLAs (47 from the Kashmir division and 43 in the Jammu division) plus five nominated MLAs including two women, two Kashmiri Pandits, one of them a woman, and a Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK) refugee.
Besides, 24 seats are reserved for PoJK taking the total strength of the Legislative Assembly to 119.