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The central government on Thursday night cleared the Women's Reservation Bill, which seeks to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies but has been hanging fire for last over a decade due to lack of political consensus.
A meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave its approval to the Bill, which has already been introduced in the Rajya Sabha and was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice, and Personnel.
The committee, which gave its report in December last, had recommended passage of the Bill in its present form and suggested that the issue should not be left to the discretion of political parties.
Sources said that since the Bill is the property of the House, the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) would decide on when to take next step such as initiating debate and the passage.
The Bill has been hanging fire for the last over a decade for want of political consensus with certain parties like the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal seeking a quota within quota for women from backward classes.