NT Reporter
Panaji
The Goa Coalition for Women’s Reservations with Inclusion and Federalism has urged the Centre to implement the 33 per cent reservation for women before the next elections and introduce the required constitutional amendment during the monsoon session of Parliament
beginning on July 21.
“The demand for women’s reservation had remained pending for decades because political parties had been reluctant to give election tickets to women,” said Advocate Albertina Almeida, adding that greater representation of women would bring different perspectives to governance and help raise issues affecting everyday life, including basic
public facilities.
She opposed linking implementation of the reservation to delimitation and population, saying such a move would disadvantage smaller states like Goa.
The coalition said Goa already has limited representation in Parliament and should not lose its voice because of its
smaller population.
It said increasing parliamentary seats primarily on the basis of population would benefit larger states while reducing the influence of smaller states.
Almeida said reservation alone would not ensure greater participation of women in politics.
The coalition demanded compulsory political training, sensitisation programmes and financial support to enable women to contest elections
effectively.
Coalition member Angela D’Souza said the 33 per cent reservation should also provide proportional representation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), transgender persons and non-binary persons.
She said decisions on including marginalised communities should be taken through state-level discussions and commissions, taking into account the demographic realities
of each state.
Representing the transgender community, Madhu Gupta urged the government to implement women’s reservation before the next elections. “Greater representation of women in Parliament would strengthen the voices of marginalised communities, including transgender persons,” said Gupta,while also appealing for reservation for Muslim women.
The coalition members said women account for only 14 per cent of the Lok Sabha while Goa has only three women MLAs.
