Speaking at a press briefing, the Chief Minister welcomed the Women’s Reservation Bill and said he had no objection to its implementation. “We have no issue if constituencies remain at 40 or even if my own seat is reserved for women,” he said.
CM Sawant informed that discussions on the bill are scheduled to be held in the Lok Sabha from April 16 to 18, with a focus on implementing reservation for women from the grassroots level up to Parliament.
He further noted that while the decision to increase seats in the Lok Sabha has been finalised”with an additional 273 seats earmarked for women, constituting 33% reservation”the framework for smaller states like Goa is yet to be decided.
Highlighting Goa’s initiatives, the Chief Minister said the state is already a leader in gender-focused governance, being the first to implement a gender budget with 33% allocation for women and women-centric departments. He also lauded Narendra Modi for promoting women-centric policies at the national level.
Meanwhile, Pratiksha Khalap, President of the Goa Pradesh Mahila Congress, called for proper implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill. She criticised the lack of wider discussion and public consultation, stating that the bill should ideally be implemented after the completion of the census and delimitation process.
Khalap warned that proceeding without due process could impact democratic representation and stressed that the reservation should be effectively implemented within Lok Sabha constituencies.
