India parliament passes ‘defining’ bill to reserve a third of seats for women
- The historic bill is a bid by India to address the underrepresentation of women in politics and other areas of public life
- The quota will take effect only after India redraws its electoral boundaries following a census for its 1.4 billion people
India’s upper house of parliament has passed a bill that reserves a third of seats in the national and state legislatures for women, a move hailed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “defining moment”.
The measure, which may not take effect for years yet, nevertheless has been decades in the making and comes as India seeks to rectify a broad underrepresentation of women in public life.
The vote on Thursday came one day after the country’s directly-elected lower house also passed the bill.
“The motion is adopted by a majority of total membership of the house,” Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is also the chair of the upper house, said in the parliament chambers late Thursday during an extraordinary session.
All the 215 members present voted for the measure brought by Modi’s government.
“A defining moment in our nation’s democratic journey!” Modi said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, soon after.