May 07, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1, 1429

NEW DELHI, May 6: The Indian government proposed long-standing legislation on Tuesday to reserve a third of parliamentary seats for women, to angry protests from male opponents in parliament.

The idea of a quota for female MPs has been around for more than a decade, and a bill has been introduced into parliament several times without ever being passed.

Political analysts said it seemed unlikely the bill would be any more successful this time around, thanks to opposition from smaller caste-based parties and a lack of consensus within the big parties.

Caste-based parties argue there should be a quota within the quota for women from lower castes and Muslim women, but analysts say the real reason the bill has never passed is that male MPs are reluctant to legislate themselves out of work.

“We want minorities to be included in the bill, otherwise we will keep on opposing,” Abu Azmi, a leader of the caste-based Samajwadi Party shouted.

The Congress Party-led coalition government pushed the bill forward gently by only introducing it in the upper house of parliament, rather than the more powerful lower house, an indication perhaps of a lack of commitment to the proposed law, analysts said.—Reuters