By IANS,
New Delhi : Barely five days after it was launched, the civil society movement to support the passage of the women’s reservation bill has started gaining momentum. Nearly a hundred people have signed up the online petition to the president and scores of others have taken up the cause on the social networking site, Facebook.
Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research who is spearheading the campaign, said: “These petitions and the online campaign will act as regular reminders to awaken the government and will reinforce the support of the common man towards the empowerment of women.”
“We were optimistic that the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government was intent of passing the bill, which was on its 100-day agenda. But as always, not much happened,” she said.
As on Monday afternoon, 86 people signed up the online petition which has urged President Pratibha Patil to push the bill.
The petition said: “We feel that if reservation for women at the panchayat level, which started off with 33 percent, could be raised to 50 percent, then reservation in parliament can also be introduced. We feel discouraged when we are repeatedly denied our rightful place in politics and a fair representation in decision making bodies, especially, parliament”.
“In a country where the president, the ruling coalition’s chairperson, parliament speaker, and several chief ministers are women, promising 33 percent reservation for women in parliament should not merely remain an unfulfilled dream,” it said.
Voicing her opinion, Meera Khanna, one of the supporters of the campaign, said: “It is high time that political parties dominated by men, overcame their insecurity and allowed women to voice their views. It will be for the benefit of the nation since all development indices are on issues closely connected with the lives of women”.
The campaign has also garnered support from people outside India. Yunuen Castellanos, a Mexican citizen, for instance signed up the petition saying: “I am not an Indian citizen, but I am committed to the development, definitely approving this bill will be a step for Indian and world progress”.
Ranjana Kumari added: “It should also be noted that the president has the constitutional powers to nominate candidates to the Rajya Sabha. Therefore, we will request her to create more space for women in the upper house of parliament”.