Lok Sabha speaker for early passage of Women's bill

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee expressed hope that women's reservation bill ensuring them 33 percent quota in elected bodies would become part of the Constitution during his tenure. "I hope the revived interest in the proposed legislative initiative will be pursued to its logical conclusion", Chatterjee said while delivering E M S Namboodiripad Memorial lecture on 'Democratic Consolidation: The Indian Experience' in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday. Women's participation and empowerment at all levels of society was undoubtedly the key to propelling democracy forward, Chatterjee said. He said, "Development efforts cannot be successful if we fail to make women equal partners in our nation-building endeavours." On the perils and pitfalls of democracy, Chatterjee said the degeneration in the essentials of the electoral system caused by negation of socio-political values poses a serious threat to democracy. Corrupt electoral practices, criminalisation of politics, the role played by money and muscle power in deciding election results and lack of voter participation were some of the issues that needed urgent attention, he said. Stating justice delivery system as another serious problem before the country, he said corrupt practices in judicial system reported in media and the high cost of litigation have made the common man apprehensive on approaching courts. "The inordinately slow justice delivery system has shaken the faith of our citizens in our judicial system itself", he said.

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