Some early reactions:

Premasri asks- who represents Indian women?

On average, Indian women work longer hours than men, as their day consists of a more diverse array of tasks relating both to the maintenance of their livelihoods (public sphere) and homes (domestic sphere). In rural India, this could take the form of both working in the fields and performing domestic duties such as cooking, drawing water, cleaning the home, washing clothes, and educating the children. In urban India, this could potentially mean working outside the home while simultaneously performing the aforementioned domestic duties. Unfortunately, in proportion to their input of labour, time, and resources, women are not equally compensated as men. In the case of this article, I won’t speak to financial compensation (which is also unequal), but rather, I will speak to the more intangible aspect of the problem - representation.

Rama Lingam points out that women’s representaion in Indian houses of legislature is poorer than in the neighbourhood:

They also added that India stands the lowest among its neighbouring countries as far as reservation for women is concerned.India after the 13 th Lok Sabha election stands at 8.2 %, Pakistan over 21 %, Nepal is 30 % and Bangladesh is 10 %..Women are angry, tired and feel insulted by unmeant and unkept promises by manifestoes and speeches of the seniormost leadership that too in wake of the election year, said Veena Nayar, director of Women’s Political Watch.

Manjunath Singe looks at the history of the failed attempts to bring in the bill, the policy background and the alternatives:

One is to amend the Representation of People’s Act 1951, to compel political parties to nominate women for one-third of their seats or lose recognition (Interesting to note that the main opposition party, BJP, has decided to reserve 1/3rd of the seats to women). This, according to Rajindar Sachar, former Chief Justice of Delhi, is flawed, as it would violate the Constitution of India, which guarantees its citizens the right to form association under Article 19(1)(c) as a fundamental right.

Another alternative is to increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha, which is currently based on the figures of the census of India, 1971, when the population of India was 54 crores. The numbers of seats were limited to 530 till further amendments. Now the Delimitation Commission has been asked to take the 2001 census as the basis for delimiting constituencies. According to 2001 census, the population of India has risen to 102 crores, therefore the number of seats are bound to increase before the next general elections. This should be reason enough to pave the way for the safe passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill.