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Cong In A Fix On 33% Women Job Quota Wow
AICC

By ugesh sarkar, Section UPA - United Progressive Alliance
Posted on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 04:05:41 AM EST

Row Over women's Bill puts hurdle before manifesto promise

THE row over the women's reservation Bill has made the government develop cold feet over its commitment to increase representation of women in central government jobs.

Officials said the controversy generated by the Bill has emerged as the main stumbling block for the Centre in providing job quota for women.

" There are legal implications of setting aside one- third of all government jobs for women. But divisions within the political class over the Bill have emerged as the principal hurdle," a senior official said. " There is no forward movement on the matter." The Congress' election manifesto had proposed 33 per cent job quota for women. Later, the President's address to joint session of Parliament firmly committed itself to providing job reservations for women. It promised to make " concerted efforts to increase the representation of women in central government

jobs", evidently through the quota route.

The President's address forms the UPA government's official agenda. It clearly states: " Some concrete steps that are proposed to create equal opportunities for women are reservation to elected bodies at all levels, reservation in jobs and a National Mission on Female Literacy." The UPA government proposed three measures to enhance women's representation in public sphere -- increasing panchayat quota to 50 per cent, enacting the women's Bill, and providing reservation for them in central government jobs.

Source: Mail Today Cong In A Fix On 33% Women Job Quota Wow

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The representation of women in government jobs has increased over the years but it isn't much better compared to their presence in the legislatures.

Of the 4,443 IAS officers for which records are available, only 595 ( 13.4 per cent) are women. The total intake of women through the 2008 civil services exams was somewhat better -- at just over 20 per cent.

At present, 49.5 per cent of central government jobs are reserved for the weaker sections, categorised as Scheduled Castes ( 15 per cent), Scheduled Tribes ( 7.5 per cent) and Other Backward Classes ( 27 per cent). The Supreme Court ( SC) has ruled that job reservations cannot exceed 50 per cent.

Officials said the easiest way to provide job reservations to women would be through a ` quota- within- quota' system. It means that one- third of vacancies in all four categories should be reserved for female candidates.

The setting aside of 33 per cent seats for women could, however, be challenged for violating the 50- per cent cap fixed by the apex court.

Reserving jobs for women under quota- within- quota has its own problems. Job reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs are mandated under Articles 16( 4) and 335, which provide an exception to " backward class of citizens" who are " not adequately represented in the services". " Reserving government jobs for women should require a constitutional amendment unless the Backward Classes Commission makes a provision categorising women as a ` backward class of citizens'," Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan said.

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