Women’s Reservation Bill won't be implemented in 10 years, says NPCC

DIMAPUR — The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) said on Wednesday that as the Women's Reservation Bill cannot be implemented until the completion of the caste census and the delimitation exercise, it is the BJP’s another well orchestrated ‘jumla’ to fool the nation.

The NPCC's communication department stated in a press release that if this is the case, the bill will not be implemented for at least the next ten years.

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It further said that the NPCC, in complete agreement with the stand taken by Congress’ national president Mallikarjun Kharge and former presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, condemns the tactics of the BJP and urged the Modi government to implement the Women's Reservation Bill (with provisions for sub-reservations of not just the SCs and STs but the OBC community too) immediately and at least for once be on the right side of history.

It described how a precursor to the said bill was introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha way back in 1989, and successive union governments since then, up until the UPA tenure, attempted to pass the bill without success, mainly due to the constraints of coalition politics.

It added that despite the BJP enjoying a brute majority, coupled with the offer of unconditional support from the Congress, the Modi government had not taken the initiative, thereby losing the chance of correcting a historical wrong perpetrated against women.

“The Women's Reservation Bill (which envisages 33% reservation for women in parliament and state assemblies) is the central missing piece of intervention towards the efforts aimed at achieving the long standing goal of the empowerment of the women of India,” the note read.

Requests immediate disbursement of stipends

In response to the clarification provided by the directorate of Employment, Skill Development, and Entrepreneurship regarding the delay of stipends to trainees in ITIs of eight districts, the public grievances department of NPCC said that if an MoU has been signed between the department and NIC for direct benefit transfer (DBT), it is the sole responsibility of the department/authority to follow up and complete the work as soon as possible.

It stated in a statement that NIC cannot make lame excuses about server issues for years, keeping the stipends of trainees who joined as early as 2021 and trainees of the following academic years pending to this day.

It requested that the authorities and third parties with whom the MoU was signed expedite the process and allow the trainees to be awarded what they deserve without further delay.

Also read: Former Nagaland Congress president Therie welcomes women’s reservation bill