http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Parties+seek+quota+within+quota&artid=YTlPYX8Au9Q=&SectionID=mvKkT3vj5ZA=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=nUFeEOBkuKw=&SEO=
Parties seek quota within quota Express News ServiceFirst Published : 16 Mar 2010 05:52:00 AM ISTLast Updated : 16 Mar 2010 08:58:14 AM IST BHUBANESWAR: Political activists and social justice forces, opposing the Women Reservation Bill, today staged a peaceful dharna at lower PMG and submitted a memorandum to President Pratibha Patil through Governor MC Bhandare. In a joint memorandum to the President, Samajwadi Party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Republican Party of India, Utkal Yadav Mahasabha, Social Justice Front, Orissa Dalit Kalyan Parishad and National Union of Backward Classes have demanded reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other backward classes (OBCs) and minorities women in the Bill. While due care has been taken for representation of SC, ST and OBC women in the three-tier panchayati raj institutions, there should not be any objection from any quarter to extend the facility to these categories of women in the Assembly and the Lok Sabha, the highest policy-making body in the country, the memorandum said. While the average women representation in Parliament world over is 19 per cent, it is only 11 per cent in India (61 women in the Lok Sabha having a total strength of 543) despite the fact that the women population of the country is 48 per cent of the total population. The presence of women representatives from SC, ST and OBC is negligible. Even conservative countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh have better women representation in their Parliament. Pakistan has 76 women representatives in a house of 342 members while in Bangladesh their number is 65 in a house of 345 members. General secretary of the State unit of the Samajwadi Party Rabi Behera told this paper that the social justice forces will obstruct the passing of the Bill both in and outside Parliament and create a public movement on the issue.
