Within reach, finally

The 'special' in the special Parliament session was finally revealed. It was not an early election, the announcement of 'one nation, one election, or a move to implement the Uniform Civil Code.

- BARKHA DUTT

Instead, the Narendra Modi government made its big move. Twenty-seven years after its inception, the women's reservation bill has been tabled in Parliament, appropriately in a new building, to mark new beginnings.

Less than 15 per cent of India's elected parliamentarians are women in a country where they make up nearly half of the population. And, this is the highest representation we have ever had.

For as long as I have been in journalism, I have watched the ritual of the women's reservation bill being announced with fanfare only to be buried, abandoned, and in some instances, physically mauled by male members who opposed it. As a young reporter who had short hair, I remember being mocked by the Janata Dal (U) leader Sharad Yadav for supporting the bill. "Women like you with short hair are the types to advocate for this law," he told me. It was his shorthand for elitism and western ideas of feminism.