THE WOMEN RESERVATION (IN SERVICES) BILL, 2016 AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN INDIA

Before independence, different social reformers like raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwarchand Vidyasagar, Annie Basant, Mahatma Gandhi etc., tried to empower the women in different ways. But after independence , empowerment of women became a political issue. In Indian constitution the word women empowermwnt refers to. empower Social status, Educational status , Economic status women in India. The Women's Reservation Bill or The Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, 2008, is a lapsed bill in the Parliament of India which proposed to amend the Constitution of India to reserve 33% of all seats in the Lower house of Parliament of India, the Lok Sabha, and in all state legislative assemblies for women. The seats were proposed to be reserved in rotation and would have been determined by draw of lots in such a way that a seat would be reserved only once in three consecutive general elections. The Rajya Sabha passed the bill on 9 March 2010. However, the Lok Sabhanever voted on the bill.The bill lapsed after the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha in 2014. In 1993, a constitutional amendment was passed in India that called for a random one third of village council leader, or pradhan, positions in gram panchayat to be reserved for women. There is a long-term plan to extend this reservation to parliament and legislative assemblies. Its opponents consider this preferential treatment of women in India as discrimination against them in admissions to schools, colleges, and universities.